Shamoil T. Shipchandler, Regional Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, Has Left the Agency

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Shamoil T. Shipchandler, Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office, left the agency on Friday, January 25.  Under Mr. Shipchandler’s leadership, the Fort Worth office has brought numerous significant enforcement actions and has conducted examination activities that have strengthened compliance in the industry, including filing novel cases involving accounting fraud and cryptocurrency, and providing transparency to regional registrants.

Since 2015, Mr. Shipchandler has led a team of approximately 140 enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators, and compliance examiners who investigate and enforce the federal securities laws and perform compliance inspections in the Fort Worth region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas.  The region has over 1,000 registered investment advisers and broker-dealers with over $2 trillion of assets under management.

“Shamoil approached his public service with passion, commitment, and flair, and always with the interests of our investors in mind,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. “The Fort Worth office made significant contributions to both the Enforcement and Examination programs under his leadership and I thank him for his service to the agency.”  

“Shamoil’s leadership and thoughtful approach to new and complex issues has served the Commission and the investing public well,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  “He has led Fort Worth’s enforcement program in investigating and prosecuting an array of complex matters, and we will miss him.”

“Shamoil is an exceptional attorney and dedicated public servant,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  “As head of the SEC’s Fort Worth office, he has grown the office’s expertise, spearheaded significant initiatives, and led the office to having a tremendous impact in the region.”

“Shamoil has been a tireless advocate for investors during his time in the Fort Worth Regional Office,” said Pete Driscoll, Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE).  “His innovative investor outreach and leadership greatly contributed to the advancement of OCIE’s mission.”

Mr. Shipchandler said, “It has been an extraordinary honor to work with such talented public servants who have dedicated their lives to protecting investors and strengthening our financial markets.  The SEC’s Fort Worth staff has built a culture that is thoughtful and innovative in its approach to a wide variety of important issues, and respected for its commitment to excellence and integrity.”

During Mr. Shipchandler’s tenure as Regional Director, the Fort Worth office has brought many significant enforcement actions that have benefitted retail investors, including charges against:

• AriseBank and its co-founders, for operating an allegedly fraudulent Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to fund what it claimed to be the world’s first “decentralized bank,” in which the SEC sought the appointment of a receiver, for the first time, in connection with an ICO fraud to preserve investor funds
• KBR, for inflating a key, non-financial statement performance metric in disclosures to investors
• Three former BDO accountants, for improperly “predating” their audit work papers
• Christopher Faulkner and Breitling, for defrauding investors through a multi-faceted $80 million oil-and-gas related scheme
• 1Broker, in a coordinated action with multiple other federal regulators, for allegedly violating the federal securities laws in connection with security-based swaps funded with bitcoins
• Two real estate investment funds operated by United Development Funding and their executives, for misleading investors about the use of funds as well as committing GAAP violations
• Investment adviser Ash Narayan, who secretly siphoned millions of dollars from client accounts he managed for professional athletes

During Mr. Shipchandler’s tenure, the SEC’s National Examination Program staff in Fort Worth increased examinations of investment advisers and broker-dealers and expanded the use of data analytics and its risk-based approach to examinations.  Mr. Shipchandler also engaged in outreach to provide insight to registrants concerning common deficiencies. 

Before joining the SEC, Mr. Shipchandler was Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.  Mr. Shipchandler was a partner at Bracewell LLP and, before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was associated with Covington & Burling LLP.  Mr. Shipchandler graduated from Middlebury College and Cornell Law School, and clerked for Judge Roger B. Andewelt of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.  Mr. Shipchandler also is an adjunct faculty member of the SMU Dedman School of Law, where he teaches courses in Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Law and White Collar Crime.