PEOPLE : John Sturc Will Leave SEC for Gibson Dunn

John H. Sturc, who helped spearhead the federal investigation into insider trading on Wall Street, is leaving the Securities and Exchange Commission and in May will become a partner in the Washington office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, the Los Angeles-based law firm.

Sturc, 39, has been an associate director of the SEC’s enforcement division and was a principal supervisor on the investigations of Dennis B. Levine, Ivan F. Boesky, Martin Siegel and Drexel Burnham Lambert. When SEC Chairman Richard Breeden selected a new enforcement director earlier this year, Sturc lost out to another agency lawyer, William R. McLucas.

In the early stages of the insider-trading inquiry, Sturc gave Levine the nickname “Moby Dick” because of the anticipated scale of the unfolding investigation, which went on to engulf Wall Street and ultimately topple Drexel Burnham.

“It’s been so much fun at the SEC the last few years that I don’t know if it could possibly continue, so I thought it was time to try something new,” said Sturc, a graduate of Harvard Law School, who was a federal prosecutor for five years before joining the SEC in 1982.

At Gibson Dunn, Sturc will specialize in securities law and civil and criminal litigation. The firm’s securities law section in Washington and Los Angeles already includes several ex-SEC officials, including former commissioners Aulana Peters and Frank Wheat.