David Peavler Named Director of Fort Worth Office

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David L. Peavler has been named Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office.

Mr. Peavler previously served for nearly 15 years in senior Division of Enforcement roles in the Fort Worth Regional Office, most recently as an Associate Director.  He rejoins the SEC from HD Vest Inc., where he has served as General Counsel since 2017.  

As an Associate Director, Mr. Peavler headed the agency’s enforcement efforts in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas.  During his SEC tenure, Mr. Peavler conducted and led significant investigations and enforcement matters, including cases against:

• Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company PLC in connection with their overstatement of 4.47 billion barrels of previously reported proved hydrocarbon reserves, in which the SEC returned $113.5 million to investors.
• A Houston-area businessman for operating a $114 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 300 investors.
• Texas-based financial services firm, Life Partners Holdings Inc. and three of its senior executives for their involvement in a fraudulent disclosure and accounting scheme involving life settlements, in which the jury found the defendants liable for defrauding shareholders and filing false SEC filings.

Mr. Peavler was integral to the issuance of the SEC’s Seaboard Report regarding cooperation, wherein the Commission declined to take action against a company in recognition of the company’s response to the conduct at issue.  Mr. Peavler previously received the Irving M. Pollack Award, one of the SEC’s top honorary awards for exceptional public service, and the Arthur F. Mathews Award, recognizing sustained demonstrated creativity in applying federal securities laws.  He will rejoin the SEC in early July.

“I am happy to welcome David back to the SEC to lead the Fort Worth Regional Office,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.  “David’s prior leadership roles at the SEC combined with his experience in retail investor financial services will be invaluable in furthering the Fort Worth office’s investor protection efforts.”

“Under David’s prior enforcement leadership, the Fort Worth Regional Office brought numerous prominent investigations and enforcement actions, and we are confident that David will be an outstanding leader,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

“With more than 20 years of securities litigation experience as well as providing legal guidance in-house in the highly regulated financial services industry, David has the unique combination of skills required to ably lead a regional office,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. 

“David has ample knowledge of and exposure to the operations and examination of registered entities, which he has gained through the investigation of numerous registrants while at the SEC,” said Pete Driscoll, Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. 

Mr. Peavler stated, “It’s an honor to rejoin the SEC as Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office.  I am excited to partner with the skilled and knowledgeable professionals in Fort Worth and across the agency as we work together to further the SEC’s mission.”

Prior to joining the SEC’s Division of Enforcement as a staff attorney in April 2000, Mr. Peavler was a partner in the trial section of Locke Liddell (now Locke Lord), where he primarily represented major accounting firms in securities class actions and auditing malpractice and was in-house with Phillips Petroleum Company and ConocoPhillips, handling general corporate and transactional matters.  Mr. Peavler is a lifelong Texan who received his law degree from the University of Texas and his undergraduate degree in accounting and economics from Baylor University.