Legal News

Gibson Dunn Nets SEC Heavy, Mark Schonfeld

By Dan Slater

Mark Schonfeld, a 12-year veteran of the SEC, and, most recently, the top cop in its New York regional office, is cashing in his chips for the private sector. According to one person familiar with the matter, the 45 year-old Schonfeld will join Gibson Dunn next month. Here’s the report from the WSJ’s SEC guru, Kara Scannell. (Click here for an interview that the NYLJ did with Schonfeld (Harvard Law) last year.)

As head of the office, Schonfeld oversaw the agency’s task force that tackled trading abuses at mutual-fund companies, and helped lead the global settlement with 10 Wall Street firms that changed Wall Street’s research and investment-banking activities. He also took on investment banks that issued shares of hot initial public offerings to favored clients in exchange for high commissions, which included a $100 million settlement with Credit Suisse First Boston in 2002.

Most recently, he’s been overseeing the investigations into whether Wall Street firms were late in taking losses tied to subprime or high-risk residential mortgages. The WSJ says it’s not clear yet who will step into Schonfeld’s shoes at the SEC.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 11, 2008 (boomark / email).