It’s official: As expected the Securities and Exchange Commission has tapped former Federal Prosecutor Robert Khuzami as its new Director of the Division of Enforcement.
Khuzami, 52, replaces Linda Chatman Thomsen, who resigned earlier this month to return to the private sector. The appointment comes as the SEC faces sharp criticism for its oversight failures during the financial crisis, particularly its failure to uncover earlier the alleged massive Ponzi scheme involving money manager Bernard Madoff. Congress and the SEC’s Inspector General are conducting investigations into the handling of the case.
Khuzami joins the SEC from Deutsche Bank AG, where he most recently served as general counsel for the Americas. Prior to that, he served as a federal prosecutor for 11 years with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and as chief of that Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force for three years.
In a statement, Khuzami said, “The staff and I will relentlessly pursue and bring to justice those whose misconduct infects our markets, corrodes investor confidence, and has caused so much financial suffering.”
Calling the agency’s efforts “vital” as it works to improve investor confidence in the markets, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said Khuzami is “well-suited “to lead the Enforcement Division as the SEC continues to “crack down on those who would betray the trust of investors.”
While at the USAO, Khuzami prosecuted Omar Ahmed Ali Abdel Rahman, known as the “Blind Sheik” and other defendants convicted of operating an international terrorist organization responsible for, among other things, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
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