SEC Names Marc P. Berger as Deputy Director of Enforcement

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Marc P. Berger, currently Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, has been named Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement.

“Marc has been a dynamic and extremely effective leader of the SEC’s largest regional office,” said Chairman Jay Clayton. “He has expertly led the office through various challenges, including by bringing impactful, investor-focused cases while also putting the health and safety of his colleagues first throughout the COVID pandemic. I am pleased that he will be providing his expertise, experience and judgment to the work of the Enforcement Division across the Commission’s 12 offices.”

“Marc has done an outstanding job leading the New York Regional Office and his legal acumen, excellent judgment, and strong management skills will serve him well in his new role,” said Stephanie Avakian, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “I am delighted that he has agreed to partner with me and look forward to working together to protect investors.”

Mr. Berger said, “I am honored and excited to have this opportunity to work with colleagues throughout the Enforcement Division who continue to achieve great success. And I am proud to have served alongside the talented examination and enforcement staff of the New York Regional Office who work each day to better protect the investing public, and I remain grateful to have been a part of the culture of teamwork and integrity that exists in New York.”

Mr. Berger, named Director of the New York Regional Office in December 2017, oversees 400 professional staff of enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators and compliance examiners involved in the investigation and prosecution of enforcement actions and the performance of compliance inspections in the New York region.  The New York Regional Office is responsible for the largest concentration of SEC-registered financial institutions including more than 4,000 investment banks, investment advisers, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and hedge funds.

A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Berger became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in 2002.  During his 12 years there, Mr. Berger served as Chief of SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, where he supervised the investigation and prosecution of some of the nation’s highest profile financial and investment fraud cases, including the largest crackdown on hedge fund insider trading in U.S. history. 

Following his service at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and immediately prior to assuming his position at the SEC, Mr. Berger was a litigation partner at the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP, and the Global Co-Head of that firm’s Securities and Enforcement Practice.

Mr. Berger received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from Cornell University in 1996 and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1999. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.