Mary Jo White is Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The following post is based on Chair White’s recent remarks at the New York University School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement. The views expressed in this post are those of Ms. White and do not necessarily reflect those of the Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff.
Good morning and thank you, Dean [Trevor] Morrison for that very kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here today [Nov. 18, 2016] and I want to thank the NYU Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement and the NYU Pollack Center for Law and Business for co-sponsoring this program. These programs provide important forums for sophisticated dialogue on critical white collar enforcement issues, which have an increased prominence post-financial crisis. I am honored to join your list of distinguished speakers.
Consistent with the core missions of these programs, I will talk to you today primarily about the SEC’s enforcement program, but also more broadly, about how best to punish and deter white-collar wrongdoing. As you know, the SEC is the primary regulator and enforcer of the federal securities laws. How we go about our job is thus critical to the protection of investors and the integrity of our capital markets. After nearly four years as Chair of the SEC, following almost nine years as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where the criminal prosecution of white collar wrongdoing was—and still is—a major priority, this seemed like the right time to speak here about this important topic. And, as you might guess, after spending much of my career in law enforcement, I have strong views about the importance of strong enforcement in the white collar space and what it takes to achieve that.
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