FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  2001-9

           Mark K. Schonfeld Named Associate Director
          of the Commission's Northeast Regional Office

     Washington, DC, January 10, 2001 -- Securities and Exchange
Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt today named Mark K. Schonfeld
Associate Director of the Commission's Northeast Regional Office
(NERO).  As Associate Director, Mr. Schonfeld will serve as one
of the senior officials in the office and will help plan and
direct the enforcement program of the region.

     SEC Enforcement Director Richard H. Walker said, "Mark
brings considerable intellectual firepower and good judgment to
this important position.  I am confident that the NERO will
continue to flourish with Mark co-heading its enforcement
program."

     Wayne M. Carlin, Director of the Northeast Regional Office,
said, "Mark is an extraordinarily talented lawyer and a strong
advocate for the rights of investors.  The enforcement program
will benefit from his experience and wisdom.  I know that Mark
will continue to battle securities fraud as tenaciously as he has
in the past."

     Mr. Schonfeld has been an attorney with the Division of
Enforcement since 1996.  Most recently he served as Assistant
Regional Director in the Northeast Regional Office.  In that
capacity, Mr. Schonfeld has been responsible for several
important Commission enforcement actions.  Mr. Schonfeld was a
principal attorney on the successful effort to put an end to a
four-year "Ponzi" scheme that had been conducted by American
Freedom Securities in Rochester, New York, and recovered more
than $4 million for investors.  Mr. Schonfeld was chiefly
responsible for SEC v. Schuster, a recent case arising from an
undercover investigation by the FBI, against a defendant charged
with attempting to bribe an employee of a prominent Manhattan law
firm to obtain confidential information on upcoming mergers.  Mr.
Schonfeld has also brought several significant cases in the areas
of Internet securities fraud, offering fraud, accounting fraud,
and fraud by broker-dealers and investment advisers.

     Before joining the Commission staff, Mr. Schonfeld was a
litigation associate with Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault in Boston.
Mr. Schonfeld also served as a law clerk to Hon. Ellsworth A. Van
Graafeiland on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit.  Mr. Schonfeld, 38, received his J.D., cum laude, from
Harvard Law School in 1988 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from
the University of Rochester in 1984.

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