David M. Becker is an American lawyer and a partner of

Cleary Gottlieb Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (known as Cleary Gottlieb) is an American multinational corporation, multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York City. Known as a white shoe law firm, Cleary employs over 1,200 lawyers ...

. He was twice General Counsel and Senior Policy Director of the United States

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

(SEC)

History

Becker graduated from Columbia College (1968) and

Columbia University Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestig ...

(1973), where he was editor-in-chief of the '' Columbia Law Review''. He then was a law clerk for Judge Harold Leventhal of the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

, then a year later, for Justice Stanley Reed of the U.S. Supreme Court. He served from January 2000 to May 2002, after joining SEC staff as Deputy General Counsel in 1998, then, again, beginning in 2009, after resigning as a partner of

. He resigned the second posting in 2011. SEC Inspector General

H. David Kotz H. David Kotz, also known as Harold David Kotz (born June 24, 1966), is a managing director at Berkeley Research Group. Kotz was a litigation associate at three law firms from 1990–99, and then a labor attorney at the U.S. Agency for Internati ...

discovered that, despite having a conflict of interest, Becker had worked on the Madoff investment scandal investigation; specifically, the Becker family had received a $2 million inheritance previously invested in a Madoff account. Kotz referred the matter to the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division. Becker indicated that he had notified seven senior SEC officials about the account, including the Chairman and the SEC's ethics officer, and none suggested that he recuse himself. Becker stated:

I have seen Inspector General Kotz do this before, make a big fuss... about sending reports to the Justice Department. Nothing has happened in any of them, and some of them ... from my time at the SEC were laughable.

The Justice Department declined to pursue the matter. SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro then stated about the incident, "I wish that Mr. Becker had recused himself, absolutely." On September 22, 2011, Becker testified before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services and the TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs Subcommittee of the

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

about his role in advising the SEC related to the bankruptcy of

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDAQ s ...

. In 2011, Becker rejoined Cleary Gottlieb as a partner."David M. Becker", ClearyGottlieb.com. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, David M. Living people American lawyers Columbia Law School alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission personnel People associated with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia College (New York) alumni

History

See also

References