SEC’s L.A. chief plans to leave post
The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Los Angeles office is stepping down after 5 1/2 years of cases against mutual fund managers, corporate offenders and scam artists.
Randall R. Lee said Tuesday that he would step down June 30 as chief of the agency’s third-largest regional office, after New York and Chicago. No successor was named. The office has about 160 staff members and oversees enforcement and examination programs in nine Western states.
Lee, 45, said he would seek work at a law firm or in the corporate world. Lee, the first Asian American to head a regional SEC office, spent 7 1/2 years as a federal fraud prosecutor in L.A. before joining the agency.
After 13 years in government, “it just seemed it was time for a change,” said Lee, married with two young children. “I’m proud of the cases we brought. My objective was to bring cases that made a difference -- whether by virtue of the number of victims, the egregiousness of the fraud or the fact that they shed light on unsavory industry practices.”
On his watch, the L.A. office brought cases alleging financial and accounting misdeeds by top executives and in some cases outside auditors at Endocare Inc., Homestore Inc., Gateway Inc., Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., Global Crossing Ltd. and Tenet Healthcare Corp.
SEC officials praised Lee for steps he took to increase diversity at the agency.
In the first SEC case involving municipal pension issues, Lee’s office accused San Diego of selling bonds without disclosing the city’s problems in funding retirement benefits. In another first for the agency, the office spotlighted the improper use of mutual fund assets to pay marketing expenses, winning a $21-million settlement from Bisys Fund Services stemming from charges that it helped more than two dozen mutual fund advisors to defraud fund investors.
The Lee regime also brought cases involving mutual fund market timing and late trading, including actions against the former chairman and a portfolio manager of the Pimco equity funds and four former officers of JB Oxford Holdings Inc., a Beverly Hills-based brokerage.
