NASD Selects National Enforcement Director
The National Assn. of Securities Dealers on Monday named Barry Goldsmith, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s top trial counsel, to its new position of national enforcement director.
The post was created last month by the new regulatory board of the NASD, the self-policing industry body, as part of a broader effort to crack down on problem brokers.
Goldsmith, 46, who has headed the SEC’s trial unit for three years, will set national goals and priorities for NASD’s 11 enforcement districts. These decentralized units produced uneven and haphazard enforcement in recent years, according to a report last fall by an NASD-appointed panel led by former U.S. Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire.
Goldsmith will start in August and report directly to NASD broker-regulatory chief Mary Schapiro, the former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman who took over the new regulatory unit in February.
“In the securities industry today, there are a select few ‘top cops’ with the experience, knowledge and integrity necessary to police the markets and make them safe for all investors, and Barry Goldsmith leads that list,” Schapiro said.
The SEC, which oversees the NASD, said Goldsmith’s successor will not be selected right away. Goldsmith’s deputy at the SEC is Stephen Crimmins. As head of the trial unit, Goldsmith reported directly to SEC enforcement director William McLucas.
SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt described Goldsmith as “among the most talented litigators in the practice of securities law. . . . We will miss his wisdom and intelligence.”
Goldsmith has prosecuted cases against Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.’s Michael Milken, Miami financier Victor Posner and First City Financial Corp.
He worked at the SEC for 10 years, received the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award in 1994, the highest award given to senior government executives. He had been a partner with the Washington-based firm of Bergson, Borkland, Margolis & Adler. He graduated from Georgetown University law school.
