The SEC announced today that George S. Canellos, co-director of its Enforcement Division, will be leaving the agency later this month after over four years of service. Canellos has served as co-director (along with Andrew Ceresney) since April 2013--the first time the Enforcement Division has had co-directors in its nearly 40-year history. The SEC noted that Canellos "has not yet made future career plans."  Ceresney will continue to serve as director following Canellos' departure.

Canellos joined the SEC in July 2009 as director of the New York Regional Office, and was named Deputy Director of the Enforcement Division in April 2012. He led many of the agency's highest-profile matters over the past four years, including insider trading actions against Raj Rajaratnam and more than 30 others associated with Galleon Management LP; former McKinsey & Co. global head and Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta; and several hedge fund managers associated with SAC Capital (including a failure to supervise case against SAC Capital founder Steven A. Cohen). Canellos also led investigations and fraud charges against 22 individuals and entities related to the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.  

Along with former director Robert Khuzami, Canellos helped develop and implement the restructuring of the Enforcement Division over the past few years. The SEC stated that Canellos helped "create the cooperation program, streamline internal processes, select leaders of newly created specialized units, and reorganize staff into core and specialized units." Earlier this year, Canellos and Ceresney also modified the SEC's long-standing settlement policy to require defendants under certain circumstances to admit wrongdoing.

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