WASHINGTON – Former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White, who oversaw multiple first-of-their-kind enforcement actions in the municipal market, rejoined Debevoise & Plimpton as the firm's senior chair on Wednesday.
White, who served as SEC chair from April 2013 to January 2017, previously worked as chair of Debevoise's litigation department from 2002 to 2013 after serving almost nine years as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. White also worked with Debevoise as a litigation partner from 1983 to 1990.
"I am delighted to return once again to Debevoise," White said in a release from the Debevoise. "The firm has the preeminent white collar practice and many of the finest lawyers and colleagues with whom I have ever worked. I am eager to begin this next chapter of my career and assist clients with their most critical matters."
White oversaw record-setting enforcement during her time leading the SEC, including the commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative and a number of first-of-their kind cases for the muni market. MCDC promised underwriters and issuers would receive lenient settlement terms if they self-reported instances over the last five years where issuers falsely said in offering documents that they were in compliance with their continuing disclosure agreements.
White was chair when the SEC first hit a municipal issuer with a civil penalty. In that case, the Greater Wenatchee, Wash. Regional Events Center Public Facilities District agreed to pay $20,000 in November 2013 over charges that its offering documents related to the development of a multi-use arena and ice hockey rink were false and misleading.
The commission also, for the first time, pursued issuer officials in muni cases under a section of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that allows the SEC to hold public officials responsible for violations based on their control of the municipal entity that engaged in the fraud. The SEC additionally won its first ever federal jury trial involving municipal securities when a jury found the city of Miami and its former budget director Michael Boudreaux guilty of securities fraud.
White's return to Debevoise follows a similar move by Andrew Ceresney, who served as director of the SEC's enforcement division under White. Ceresney will rejoin Debevoise in early March as co-chair of the firm's litigation department.
White graduated from William & Mary Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She has a master's in psychology from The New School for Social Research and a law degree from Columbia Law School.
