SEC’s West Coast Chief Is Resigning

Elaine M. Cacheris, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Pacific regional office since 1992, said she will be leaving the SEC at the end of May to move to Washington. Her replacement has not been named. Cacheris, who has been with the agency for more than 13 years, was responsible for enforcing SEC rules on the West Coast. During her tenure, Cacheris led the probe into the financial collapse of Orange County and helped pursue cases against company insiders involved in the stocks of L.A. Gear, Wilshire Technologies and IDB Communications. The Orange County case is continuing, and her departure will have no effect on it, Cacheris said. “She will be difficult to replace,” said William McLucas, the outgoing SEC director of the division of enforcement. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt called Cacheris “a superb attorney” and thanked her for her service. The SEC has 125 staff members in Los Angeles and 60 in San Francisco.