FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             2001-141


 Randall Lee Named Head of the SEC’s Pacific Regional Office

     Washington, DC, November 21, 2001 -- The Securities and
Exchange Commission announced today the selection of Randall
R. Lee as Regional Director of the Commission’s Pacific
Regional Office.  Mr. Lee joins the Commission from the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California
where he currently serves as Deputy Chief of the Major
Frauds Section in the Criminal Division.  Mr. Lee will
assume his new post either in late December, 2001 or in
early January, 2002.  Mr. Lee succeeds Valerie Caproni, who
is now in private practice.

     The Pacific Region comprises offices in Los Angeles and
San Francisco, California, and operates both enforcement and
regulatory programs in a nine-state area.  Mr. Lee will
oversee these activities throughout the region.

     Chairman Harvey L. Pitt said, “The Regional Offices are
instrumental in carrying out the Commission’s enforcement
and regulatory duties.  Mr. Lee’s leadership and experience
in both the private and public sectors will help us
effectively achieve those goals in an especially important
part of the country.  On behalf of the Commission, I welcome
him to our team and I look forward to working with him.”

     Stephen M. Cutler, the Director of the Division of
Enforcement, said, “I am very pleased that Randall Lee has
agreed to serve as Director of our Pacific Regional Office.
He brings a unique blend of experience -- as a prosecutor of
white collar crime and as a corporate lawyer in private
practice – that will serve us well.  The Commission and the
Pacific Regional Office will benefit from his considerable
legal skills, intelligence, and experience.”

     Mr. Lee began his legal career as a law clerk to the
Honorable James L. Buckley, United States Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit, Washington, D.C.  He
then became an associate in the corporate/securities area at
the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles,
California.  After five years in private practice, Mr. Lee
joined the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, where
he has worked for the last seven years.  He has been
responsible for both investigating and prosecuting complex
white collar fraud cases and, in his present position,
manages senior Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the prosecution
of cases involving, among other areas, false financial
reporting, securities offering and other investment fraud,
financial institution fraud, stock manipulation, insider
trading and money laundering.
     Mr. Lee received his B.A., cum laude, from Yale
University in 1983 and his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of
Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989.  He
was awarded the Order of the Coif and served as Articles
Editor of the California Law Review at Boalt Hall.  Prior to
attending law school, Mr. Lee worked in the corporate
finance department at Bankers Trust Company in New York, San
Francisco and Los Angeles for three years.








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