The SEC has named Anita Bandy and Carolyn Welshhans associate directors in the agency’s enforcement division.
In their new roles, Bandy and Welshhans each supervise roughly 40 attorneys, paralegals and staff responsible for investigating a broad range of securities law violations.
Bandy joined the SEC in 2004 and has been an assistant director in the enforcement division since 2013. During her time with the agency, she has led enforcement initiatives and supervised investigations that resulted in actions on issues such as accounting and offering fraud, market manipulation and FCPA violations. Before joining the SEC, she worked for five years as a white-collar litigation attorney at Proskauer Rose.
Welshhans joined the SEC in 2007 and has served as an assistant director in the division’s market abuse unit since 2015. She took on a dual role as an assistant director in the division’s cyber unit after it was created last year.
She has supervised investigations and worked on complex matters that have led to actions involving insider trading, high-frequency trading, dark pools and retail order handling. Before joining the agency, she worked for four years as a white-collar litigation attorney at Dechert.
Welshhans fills the position previously occupied by Scott Friestad, who passed away in April. Bandy fills the post previously occupied by Gerald Hodgkins, who has left the agency. The appointments became effective last week.
‘Anita and Carolyn are excellent mentors and have demonstrated leadership, technical expertise and judgment in their approach to investigations,’ says SEC chair Jay Clayton in a statement. ‘I am confident that American investors and our markets will be well served by the elevation of these two dedicated public servants.’
The US Senate last week voted to confirm Elad Roisman, President Donald Trump’s pick as commissioner, to fill the vacant Republican seat at the SEC. The decision allows Roisman to be sworn in, replacing Michael Piwowar, who vacated the role when his term ended in June, and means the commission now has a full five-member complement.
The SEC also recently awarded $39 million to one whistleblower and $15 million to another whose information and assistance helped the agency bring an important enforcement action. The $39 million award is the second-largest in the history of the agency’s whistleblower program.
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
