FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               2002-15
     
     Linda Chatman Thomsen Named Deputy Director of the Division
 of Enforcement
     
       Washington, DC, January 23, 2002 - The Securities and
 Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Linda
 Chatman Thomsen as deputy director of the Division of
 Enforcement. Thomsen succeeds Stephen M. Cutler, who was
 appointed director of the division in October 2001 by SEC
 Chairman Harvey L. Pitt.
     
      I am pleased that Linda has agreed to take on this new
 role at the Commission,” Pitt said. “She brings to the
 position a record of forceful and effective advocacy for the
 Commission and for the nation’s investors. Steve Cutler and
 Linda Thomsen are exemplary leaders. With their creativity and
 toughness, they will move our enforcement efforts forward,
 enabling the Enforcement Division to build on its excellent
 track record.”
     
       As deputy director, Thomsen will assist the enforcement
 director in formulating policies and will play a key role in
 the management of the Division of Enforcement.
     
       “With Linda as deputy, the Enforcement Division will
 have more opportunities to benefit from her knowledge of the
 securities laws and leadership skills,” Cutler said. “She has
 demonstrated her ability to manage complex investigations and
 inspire her colleagues to work at the highest level. As the
 Division continues its fight against financial fraud and its
 work in other priority areas, Linda’s keen analytic and
 strategic abilities, as well as her tough prosecutorial bent,
 will serve the investing public well.”
     
          Thomsen, 47, came to the Commission in 1995 as
assistant chief litigation counsel.  In 1997, Thomsen was named
assistant director for the division of enforcement, and in
2000, she became associate director for the division.

          During her tenure at the Commission, she has overseen
the investigation and litigation of numerous cases. Among other
things, she successfully investigated and settled actions
charging MicroStrategy with financial reporting violations and
its top officers with financial fraud; investigated and settled
a case against a broker-dealer for having inadequate policies
and procedures designed to prevent misuse of material nonpublic
information; investigated and settled two cases charging major
corporations with violations of the federal securities laws in
connection with making illegal foreign payments; and tried and
settled insider trading cases, including emergency cases
involving foreign trading. She was a member of the team that
obtained a $47 million judgment against Michael Milken in the
1998 Commission case against Milken for violating the
Commission's 1991 Order barring him from the securities
industry.
     
     Before coming to the Commission, Ms. Thomsen was an
 attorney at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in
 Washington, D.C., and New York, and also served as an
 Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Maryland.  She
 received her A.B. from Smith College and her law degree from
 Harvard Law School.
     
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