U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton on Thursday named Steven Peikin and Stephanie Avakian co-directors of the agency’s enforcement division, filling the most prominent staff opening at the Wall Street regulator, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Peikin, a former federal prosecutor, worked with Clayton at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where he represented clients including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc as managing director of the law firm’s criminal defense and investigations group. Elevating Avakian, who has been the enforcement unit’s acting director, may ease some Democrats’ concerns that SEC will be less aggressive in fighting abuses by financial firms under President Donald Trump. Clayton, who was nominated to lead the agency in January, has pledged to be tough on corporate wrongdoing in response to assertions from Democratic lawmakers that his career representing banks and hedge funds made him a poor choice for the job. Former SEC Chair Mary Jo White took a similar approach on the enforcement post in 2013 when she named acting chief George Canellos and law firm colleague Andrew Ceresney to share the role.
