SEC: “The nation’s top securities regulator is going to have a decidedly Sullivan & Cromwell look to it.
Jay Clayton, who left Sullivan & Cromwell, the prominent New York law firm, to become the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is expected to tap his former colleague Steven R. Peikin to serve as the commission’s co-director of enforcement, said three people briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.
Mr. Peikin, a Sullivan & Cromwell partner and former federal prosecutor, is said to be friends with Mr. Clayton, and many New York lawyers speculated for weeks that he would get the job. Mr. Peikin’s roster of clients has included big Wall Street banks like Barclays and Goldman Sachs — a bank Mr. Clayton did significant work for as well.
But Mr. Peikin will not be alone in setting the agency’s enforcement priorities and deciding which matters to pursue civil charges on.
Mr. Clayton is expected to also name Stephanie Avakian, the agency’s acting enforcement director and a former white-collar defense lawyer, as co-director with Mr. Peikin, one of the people briefed on the matter said.”
-Matthew Goldstein and Ben Protess, “2 Expected to Be Named to S.E.C. Enforcement Role,” The New York Times online, May 29, 2017