Paul Atkins to leave SEC

Securities and Exchange Commission member Paul Atkins, a Republican who resisted the agency’s crackdown on corporations after mutual-fund trading scandals and the collapse of Enron Corp., is stepping down.

Atkins, 50, plans to stay until a successor takes office, the SEC said Monday. His term, which began in 2002, ends in June.

President Bush may nominate law professor Troy A. Paredes for the post, said three people briefed on the matter who declined to be identified because the White House hasn’t announced the choice.

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore declined to comment. Paredes, 37, who teaches at Washington University in St. Louis, didn’t return phone calls.

Atkins, a former lawyer for accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, opposed rules for hedge funds and mutual fund boards and criticized record fines the agency imposed after the failure of Enron, arguing that they penalized shareholders.

Under SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, the sanctions fell last year to the lowest level since 2002.