Linda Thomsen is stepping down as director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, spokesman John Nester said today.
“Ms. Thomsen’s replacement has not been announced yet,” Mr. Nester added, declining to confirm media reports that Robert Khuzami, general counsel at Deutsche Bank AG and a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, is the front-runner for the position.
Ms. Thomsen became head of the enforcement division May 12, 2005, after joining the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1995 as a lawyer. She came under recent criticism for failing to uncover an alleged Ponzi scheme at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Thomsen worked at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell and “plans to return to the private sector,” an SEC statement announcing her departure said.
“Linda’s achievements have been nothing short of extraordinary, even heroic, in an era of unprecedented challenges in our securities markets,” SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said in the statement.
In a separate statement today, the SEC also said Bernard Madoff has agreed not to oppose a partial judgment entered Dec. 18, 2008, against him as the “facts of the complaint are established and cannot be contested by Madoff.”
