Former
Deutsche Bank general counsel and federal prosecutor Robert Khuzami today was named director of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr. Khuzami replaces Linda Thomsen, who left the SEC Feb. 9
. Ms. Thomsen’s unit came under fire for failing to detect the alleged $50 billion fraud at Bernard L. Madoff Securities LLC of New York and for inadequately overseeing the mortgage-backed securities market that led to the credit crisis.
Mr. Khuzami was a federal prosecutor for 11 years with the U.S. attorney’s office in New York, where he was chief of the office of securities and commodities fraud task force for three years.
He prosecuted numerous complex securities and white-collar criminal matters, including cases involving insider trading, Ponzi schemes, accounting and financial statement fraud, organized crime infiltration of the securities markets, and initial public offering and investment adviser fraud, according to a SEC release. Most recently, he was general counsel for the Americas in the New York office of Deutsche Bank AG, which is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany.
Mr. Khuzami is the first major hire by SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, who took her post in January. “I’m pleased to have Rob join the SEC in such an important role at this crucial time,” she said in the release. “As a former federal prosecutor, Rob is well-suited to lead the SEC’s division of enforcement as we continue to crack down on those who would betray the trust of investors,” Ms. Schapiro said.
“I will relentlessly pursue and bring to justice those whose misconduct infects our markets, corrodes investor confidence and has caused so much financial suffering,” Mr. Khuzami added.
In addition to prosecuting financial fraud cases, Mr. Khuzami successfully prosecuted “Blind Sheik” Omar Abdel Rahman for, among other things, plotting to blow up New York landmarks. At the time, it was the largest terrorism trial in U.S. history.
