Morgan Lewis Adds Senior SEC Enforcement Official to National Securities Practice and Miami Office
-
date:
05/21/2007 -
news source:
Press Releases
downloads/links:
Miami, FL – May 21, 2007: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is pleased to announce that Ivan Harris, former Assistant Regional Director of Enforcement for the SEC's Southeast Region, has joined the firm's national securities practice as a partner. Mr. Harris will be a member of the firm's Litigation Practice and will be resident in Miami. Mr. Harris joins the nearly 30 former SEC attorneys at Morgan Lewis nationally, and is the second senior enforcement attorney from the SEC's Southeast Regional Office to join the firm. Christian Bartholomew, who was the Senior Trial Counsel for the Southeast Regional Office, joined the firm in 2000.
Mr. Harris brings to Morgan Lewis's national securities practice a rare combination of cutting-edge experience from both the enforcement and regulatory side of the investment industry's hottest sector: hedge funds. He joins Morgan Lewis from his position as regulatory counsel at a financial services firm that operates a hedge fund adviser. Before moving in-house two years ago, Mr. Harris spearheaded several of the SEC's most significant hedge fund investigations.
"Hedge funds are one of the most rapidly growing and lightly regulated investment vehicles. As the SEC continues to scrutinize their activities, Ivan has a unique profile as someone who has been on the inside of a hedge fund, and before that, lead investigator of a cutting-edge hedge fund enforcement action by the SEC," said James D. Pagliaro, leader of the Litigation Practice at Morgan Lewis.
In 2005, Mr. Harris led the SEC's investigation of one of the largest hedge-fund fraud actions ever brought by the SEC, against Palm Beach–based KL Financial Group, which raised almost $200 million before its assets were frozen and it was put in receivership in an emergency SEC action. In 2003, Mr. Harris was also responsible for the first SEC case involving a hedge fund's illegal short-selling ahead of a secondary stock offering. The SEC has recently made such violations, and related so-called "PIPE" cases, an enforcement priority.
In addition to his hedge fund background, Mr. Harris led several precedent-setting enforcement matters when he was at the SEC, including corporate financial fraud, insider trading, broker-dealer, and investment adviser cases. Mr. Harris also developed a particular expertise in international cases by investigating financial fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters in concert with regulators throughout Europe and Central and South America.
"We are thrilled that Ivan is joining our SEC enforcement and regulatory compliance team," said Christian Bartholomew, a partner, leader of the firm's Washington, D.C. litigation group and leader of its SEC enforcement practice in the Southeast region. "Ivan is a real triple-threat: He is a hedge fund lawyer with both in-house and SEC experience; a former senior SEC enforcement official known for bringing cases of national and international importance; and a partner on the ground in Miami who will help seal our dominant position as the go-to firm in the Southeast for SEC matters," Mr. Bartholomew said.
Mr. Harris will also work closely with the firm's Investment Management Practice in leveraging his hedge fund experience.
Mr. Harris is a 1994 graduate of Duke University Law School and holds bachelor's degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,300 lawyers in 22 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Houston, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis, please visit www.morganlewis.com.