Veteran SEC attorney to head agency’s Los Angeles office

A veteran Securities and Exchange Commission attorney has been named director of the agency’s Los Angeles regional office.

Michele Wein Layne will oversee a staff of more than 120 employees who enforce securities laws in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam.

Layne, 53, had been associate regional director of the SEC’s Los Angeles office since 2005. She began her SEC career 17 years ago, working her way from staff attorney to the head of the busy Los Angeles office.

She helped oversee the SEC’s enforcement action against former Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo, who paid a $22.5-million penalty in 2010 to resolve allegations that Countrywide misled investors about the risky nature of its loans. It was the largest penalty paid to the SEC by the chief of a public company.

“Michele has devoted her professional life to the high calling of protecting the nation’s investors and its financial markets,” said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s enforcement division. “The leadership, judgment and deep substantive knowledge she exercised while supervising some of the SEC’s most challenging enforcement actions makes her the perfect choice to lead the Los Angeles regional office into the future. I am delighted she has accepted this position.”

Layne said she was honored by the promotion and looks forward “to leading our office’s continuing exemplary efforts on behalf of the investing public.”

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