Legal Briefing: The SEC's Top Cop Is a Ringer From the Private Sector

A daily look at legal news and the business of law

SEC's Top Cop Oversaw Deutsche Bank's Legal Department, Including CDOs
When a government enforcer joins the private sector, I always mourn a little, thinking of all the nonlegal expertise and assets that attorney will be able to marshal for the future enforcement targets that are her clients. But when the revolving door spins the other way, I celebrate -- prosecutors are much smarter when they've been there, done that. That is, I don't want crooks as prosecutors, but ex-insiders are great.

Five of those were as Deutshce Bank's general counsel for the Americas, and he went straight from Deutsche Bank to the SEC. Hiring him, as opposed to following the SEC's tradition of promoting from within, was a shrewd move that signals the SEC is serious about enforcement.

Khuzami promptly expanded the direct-from-the-private-sector hiring approach, creating a new chief operating officer position and hiring Adam Storch of Goldman Sachs for the job. Of course, the big concern with a hire like Khuzami is that he would go easy on Deutsche Bank, but so far he and the SEC seem to be careful about keeping off any related matters.

Ex-SEC Lawyer Sentenced to Eight Years for "Pump and Dump" Scheme
Seems when Phillip Offill Jr. went from the SEC to the private sector he did more than marshal his 15 years of government service on behalf of private clients: He became a crook. Sentencing Offill to eight years for his role in a "pump and dump" stock scheme, the judge called Offill's testimony "one of the biggest pack of lies I've ever heard," according to ABA Journal.

New Jersey Lawyer May Be a Murderer, but He's No Racketeer
A New Jersey defense attorney and former prosecutor who allegedly became something of a crime lord is facing 36 counts, including murder, but the judge just struck down a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charge. The defendant's alleged crimes were insufficiently organized, er, too loosely connected, to justify RICO charges, explains ABA Journal.

And in the Business of Law...
A 16-attorney insurance defense litigation group has jumped from Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker to Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, notes ABA Journal.