SEC Appoints Heads of Special Units to Crack Down on Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division announced January 13 the heads of its newly specialized units spread throughout the country that are designed to crack down on financial wrongdoing. The Division announced the same day the newly created Office of Market Intelligence that is responsible for the collection, analysis, and monitoring of the hundreds of thousands of tips, complaints, and referrals that the SEC receives each year. Thomas Sporkin, who has served as Deputy Chief in the Office of Internet Enforcement at the SEC since 2001, will head the new Office of Market Intelligence.

According to the SEC, the specialized units and their Unit Chiefs are:

Asset Management. Will be led by Co-Chiefs Bruce Karpati and Robert Kaplan and will focus on investigations involving investment advisors, investment companies, hedge funds, and private equity funds.

Karpati was founder and head of the SEC's Hedge Fund Working Group, and has served as Assistant Regional Director for the New York Regional Office of the SEC. Kaplan has served as Assistant Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, and previously held positions as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel and Senior Counsel/Staff Attorney in the Division.

Market Abuse. To be led by Daniel Hawke, this unit will focus on investigations involving large-scale market abuses and complex manipulation schemes by institutional traders, market professionals, and others. Hawke is Director of the SEC's Philadelphia Regional Office. The Market Abuse Unit Deputy Chief is Sanjay Wadhwa, who has been Assistant Regional Director for the New York Regional Office of the SEC.

Structured and New Products. To be led by Kenneth Lench, this unit will focus on complex derivatives and financial products, including credit default swaps (CDSs), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and securitized products. Lench has served as Assistant Director, Branch Chief, Assistant Chief Counsel, and Senior Counsel/Staff Attorney with the SEC's Division of Enforcement. The Structured and New Products Unit Deputy Chief is Reid Muoio, who has been an Assistant Director, Branch Chief, and Staff Attorney with the Division of Enforcement.

Foreign Corrupt Practices. To be led by Cheryl Scarboro, this group will focus on violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which was passed in 1977 and revised in 1988, and which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials for government contracts and other business. Scarboro has served as Associate Director, Assistant Director, Deputy Assistant Director, and Staff Attorney in the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

Municipal Securities and Public Pensions. To be led by Elaine Greenberg, this unit will focus on misconduct in the large municipal securities market and public pension funds including: offering and disclosure fraud; tax or arbitrage-driven fraud; pay-to-play and public corruption violations; public pension accounting and disclosure violations; and valuation and pricing fraud. Greenberg is the Associate Regional Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the SEC and has served as the Co-Chair of the Division's national Municipal Securities Working Group.