Robert Khuzami
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Robert S. Khuzami (; born August 2, 1956) was the Deputy U.S. Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York until March 22, 2019. He previously was a United States
federal prosecutor An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
and Assistant United States Attorney for the office, and a former director of the Division of Enforcement of the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
. He was previously a partner at law firm Kirkland & Ellis. and
general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
of
Deutsche Bank AG Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stoc ...
.


Education and early employment

Khuzami was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and grew up in
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
.Ben Hallman
"Second Acts"
''The American Lawyer'' (March 2010) Retrieved January 10, 2011
His parents were professional
ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. ...
rs of Lebanese descent and had a dancing school. He attended Rush-Henrietta Senior High School, graduating in 1974. After taking a few years off after high school, Khuzami enrolled in college, first studying at the State University of New York at Geneseo, then transferring to the
University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...
where he was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
and graduated
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
in 1979. He received a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree in 1983 from
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
School of Law. From 1983 to 1984, he was a
law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
for
John R. Gibson John Robert Gibson (December 20, 1925 – April 19, 2014) was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and a United States district judge of the United States District ...
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in
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"Robert Khuzami Named SEC Director of Enforcement"
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Press Release (February 19, 2009) Retrieved January 9, 2011.
and then went to work at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a
litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
associate.


US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York


Assistant United States Attorney

Khuzami was a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's Southern District of New York from 1991 to 2002. From 1999 to 2002, he was chief of that office's Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, where he prosecuted complex securities and white-collar crime, including
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...
,
Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
s, accounting and financial statement fraud,
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
infiltration of the securities markets, and
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
and investment adviser fraud. Among other cases, the Task Force under Khuzami was responsible for "Operation Uptick," a one-year joint DOJ-FBI-SEC-NASD undercover operation in which a "front" investment advisory business was set up and located in premises that were bugged with court-authorized
eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eaves ...
devices. As a result, 120 persons were arrested on a variety of securities fraud charges in a single day, including 10 members of the Bonanno and
Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
organized crime families, a former New York City police detective, 57 securities brokers, 12 stock promoters, 30 corporate officers, directors and other insiders, two accountants, a
hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
manager, and others. This was the largest number of defendants ever arrested at one time on securities fraud related charges and one of the largest number ever arrested in a criminal case of any kind. One of his cases involved Patrick R. Bennett, founder of Bennett Funding Group, who was charged with running a
pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly im ...
and cheating 12,000 investors of $600 million.Charley Hannagan
"Lawyer doesn't rest his defense of notorious white-collar criminal Patrick R. Bennett"
''The Post-Standard'', Syracuse, NY (August 30, 2009) Retrieved January 10, 2011
Bennett's first trial, in March 1999, resulted in a hung jury and the judge,
Thomas P. Griesa Thomas Poole Griesa (October 11, 1930 – December 24, 2017) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1972 to 2017 and its Chief Judge from 1993 to 2000. Education and care ...
, declared a mistrial. Khuzami announced his intention to continue legal pursuit of Bennett on all counts for which the jury did not reach a decision. A second jury failed to reach a decision on 11 securities and mail fraud charges and a second judge, John S. Martin, Jr., declared a mistrial on the unresolved charges in June 1999."Leasing-Firm Executive Convicted of Stock Fraud"
''The New York Times'' (June 11, 1999) Retrieved January 10, 2011
Bennett, who admitted to seven counts of lying to SEC prosecutors but otherwise maintains his innocence, was described by his lawyers as an inept businessman overwhelmed by an expanding company. In a practice then legal, the judge used his discretion to convict Bennett of stock fraud and
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
. He was not convicted of running a Ponzi scheme, the main charge. Bennett was also ordered to forfeit $109 million, although he filed for
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
in 1996 and was declared indigent and his lawyers were court-appointed. He was sentenced to 22 years, later extended to 30 because his then-wife did not turn over assets to repay investors. Khuzami was selected by then-U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White to work with
Andrew C. McCarthy Andrew C. McCarthy III (born 1959) is an American columnist for ''National Review''. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A Republican, he led the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheikh Omar ...
and
Patrick Fitzgerald Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born December 22, 1960) is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom since October 2012. For more than a decade, until June 30, 2012, Fitzgerald was the United States Attorney f ...
in the prosecution of the "Blind Sheikh", Omar Abdel-Rahman, a career-changing case. At the time, the largest terrorism trial in U.S. history, ten defendants were convicted of operating an international terrorist organization responsible for the February
1993 World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
and who planned simultaneous bombing attacks on
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI) New York headquarters, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. Khuzami also prosecuted those accused of assassinating Meir Kahane,Larry Neumeister
"Sheik Plotted War, Prosecutor Says"
''The Seattle Times'' (January 30, 1995) Retrieved January 10, 2011

Tzvee's Talmudic Blog (April 16, 2010) Retrieved January 9, 2011
and plotting the murders of
Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
of Egypt and the
Secretary General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...
. Khuzami also supervised some of the initial investigation in New York following the September 11, 2001 attacks.


Deutsche Bank - Americas

In 2002, Khuzami was hired by
Richard H. Walker Richard H. Walker (born 1950) is an American lawyer. He is former general counsel of corporate and investment banking at Deutsche Bank and former director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Division of Enforcement, where ...
to work at Deutsche Bank in New York as Global Head of Litigation and Regulatory Investigations, where he oversaw litigation and regulatory investigations. In 2004, he was promoted to serve as General Counsel for the Americas, where he supervised more than 100 lawyers. From 2002 to 2004, he headed their global litigation and regulatory investigations. He stayed at the bank until 2009. Walker, who had met Khuzami at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft when Walker was a partner there, later recommended him for the enforcement job at the SEC, a job he had once held himself.


SEC Division of Enforcement

In 2009 Khuzami was appointed by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro to succeed
Linda Chatman Thomsen Linda Chatman Thomsen was the director of the Division of Enforcement for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2005 until early 2009. Since arriving at the SEC in 1995, she worked under four SEC Chairmen: Arthur Levitt, Harvey Pitt, ...
after the SEC had come under public criticism for failing to detect Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme."Khuzami Will Lead SEC Enforcement"
''The Wall Street Journal'' (February 20, 2009) Retrieved January 9, 2011
David Lieberman and Matt Krantz

''USA Today'' (July 15, 2010) Retrieved January 9, 2011
His appointment was controversial because of his employment at Deutsche Bank, a global investment firm which did business with
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
. He was portrayed as an outsider by some but had 11 years' experience as a federal prosecutor.Kevin G. Hall
"Reputation of SEC's Khuzami is on the line vs. Goldman"
''McClatchy Newspapers'' (April 16, 2010) Retrieved January 9, 2011
Inheriting a demoralized agency ridiculed as ineffective, Khuzami began a broad reorganization of the top-heavy Enforcement Division."Power 30: The World's Most Influential Players"
''The Wall Street Journal/SmartMoney'' (October 26, 2010) Retrieved January 10, 2011
He left top salaries in place, but forced administrators back into investigations. He eliminated a layer of management.Jenna Greene
"Champions and Visionaries"
''The National Law Journal'' (June 7, 2010) Retrieved January 10, 2011
Charlie Gasparino
"Khuzami Turning Up the Heat at the SEC"
FOXBusiness (October 28, 2010) Retrieved January 9, 2011
and formed national units to concentrate expertise in five areas. He created a new system to collect, organize, investigate and data mine tips and complaints, tens of thousands of which are received by the SEC every year. The new units focus on probes into investment advisers, investment companies,
hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
s and
private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity ...
s;
financial derivatives In finance, a derivative is a contract that ''derives'' its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often simply called the "underlying". Derivatives can be u ...
and other "complex financial products;" market abuses, such as large-scale insider trading and market manipulations; municipal securities and public
pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income. Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...
s; and violations of the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applicable world ...
. Khuzami obtained Commission approval to delegate to senior staff the authority to issue subpoenas without preapproval, and created the first-ever Office of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Division to handle IT, project management, budget, HR and similar issues that previously had been handled by lawyers.Jenna Greene, "New Enforcement Chief Aims to Restore Confidence in SEC; Khuzami looks to scrub tarnish from agency"
''The National Law Journal'' (October 19, 2009) Retrieved June 12, 2012
Khuzami also hired industry experts, non-lawyers with genuine market expertise such as portfolio managers, traders, operations personnel, structurers, and risk managers who "know where the rocks are and what is buried beneath them." Khuzami adopted these changes to make the Division smarter and quicker, noting "whether you are dealing with terrorism or securities fraud, it is better to be in the prevention business than the cleanup business. We want to be able to detect wrongdoing earlier in the cycle and minimize harm to investors." Khuzami also established a new Cross Border Working Group, a proactive, risk-based initiative focusing on U.S. companies whose substantial foreign operations might have accounting or auditing problems, and a MicroCap Fraud Working Group to address the long-standing problem of fraud in connection with offering and trading of microcap securities, otherwise known as " penny stocks". Khuzami's initiatives are the largest restructuring of the Enforcement Division in its 40-year history. As part of the restructuring, Khuzami also initiated a cooperating witness program designed to incentivize persons with knowledge of securities laws violations to assist SEC investigations. He told ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "There is no substitute for the insider's view into fraud and misconduct that only cooperating witnesses can provide. That type of evidence can expand our ability to conduct our investigations more swiftly, and to act quickly to file charges, freeze assets and protect investors." According to Khuzami, "The program is designed to encourage 'insiders' and others to provide high quality evidence of wrongdoing early so we can minimize investor loss and take action against the organizers, leaders, and managers of unlawful schemes."Letter from Robert S. Khuzami to the Honorable Charles E. Grassley
(February 18, 2011)


Enforcement Division performance under Khuzami

In fiscal year 2011, the Enforcement Division filed 735 actions, an 8.6% increase over FY 2010 and more than any other year in SEC history. It also obtained $2.8 billion in penalties and disgorgement. One commentator noted that despite budget and other restraints, the SEC has recently "had a string of successes" and has made progress "despite every disadvantage." The particular cases are assembled and summarized in the SEC's list of major enforcement actions for the years 2009–2012. The following year, fiscal year 2012, the Enforcement Division filed 734 enforcement actions."SEC's Enforcement Program Continues to Show Strong Results in Safeguarding Investors and Markets; Last Two Years Reflect Two Highest Numbers of Total Actions Brought by SEC"
SEC Release No. 2012-227 (November 14, 2012) Retrieved November 27, 2012
It also obtained orders requiring the payment of more than $3.0 billion in penalties and disgorgement for the benefit of harmed investors, an 11% increase over the amount ordered the previous year. As Chairman Schapiro stated at the time, "We've now brought more enforcement actions in each of the last two years than ever before including some of the most complex cases we've ever seen." This level of performance came two years after Khuzami implemented a reorganization of the Division's history. In fiscal year 2012, the SEC also made its first whistleblower award under its new whistleblower authority authorized under the Dodd-Frank Act.


Financial crisis-related cases

As of November 2012, the Enforcement Division during Khuzami's tenure has charged 129 entities and individuals involving wrongdoing generally associated with the financial crisis, including: (a) concealing from investors risks, terms and improper pricing of collateral debt obligations, residential mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed commercial paper and other complex structured products; (b) misleading risk and accounting disclosures to shareholders of public companies in mortgage and mortgage-related businesses; and (c) concealing the extent of risky mortgage-related and other high-risk investments in mutual funds and other financial products. In these cases, 57 CEOs, CFOs and other senior corporate officers have been charged and more than $2.6 billion of monetary relief has been ordered or agreed to, most of which has been or is in the process of being returned to harmed investors. Khuzami served as co-chair of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group of President Obama's federal-state Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), created in 2009 to prosecute securities and other fraud arising out of the financial crisis. He was also selected to serve as one of five co-chairs of an additional working group – the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) Working Group – formed in January 2012 under the FFETF to focus specifically on fraud in the creation, issuance and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities. Other co-chairs of the RMBS Working Group include New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Since formation of the RMBS Working Group, the SEC has filed cases against two major investment firms ordered to pay a combined total of almost $420 million for misleading investors in connection with hundreds of residential mortgage backed securities.


Insider trading cases

From October 2009 through November 2012, the Enforcement Division filed 168 total insider trading actions, the most in SEC history for any three-year period. In these actions, the SEC has charged 410 individuals and entities for illegal trading totaling nearly $900 million in illicit profit. These cases include those involving Galleon, expert networks, Raj Rajaratnam and Rajat Gupta. (See the SEC's list of major enforcement actions.) In addition, Khuzami embraced the use of sophisticated data analysis to identify patterns of suspicious trading and other misconduct from among the voluminous amount of tips and complaints that the SEC receives each year.


Controversies

A former SEC investigator,
Gary Aguirre Gary J. Aguirre is an American lawyer, former investigator with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and whistleblower. After working in a law firm briefly, he became a public defender, then worked as a trial lawyer in C ...
, who was fired after he questioned the SEC's failure to pursue an insider-trading case against
John J. Mack John J. Mack (born November 17, 1944) is a senior advisor to the Investment company, investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the former CEO and chairman of the board at Morgan Stanley, the New York City, New York-based investment bank and brok ...
, has been critical of the SEC's Cooperation Program initiated under Khuzami. Aguirre says it turns the SEC into a middleman between
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
firms and the Justice Department that will negotiate fines and circumvent a prison sentence.
Matt Taibbi Matthew Colin Taibbi (; born March 2, 1970) is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. A former contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'', he is an author of several books, co-host o ...

"Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?"
'' Rolling Stone'' (February 16, 2011) Retrieved February 17, 2011
As Aguirre describes it, "First, the SEC and Wall Street player make an agreement on a fine that the player will pay to the SEC. Then the Justice Department commits itself to pass, so that the player knows he's 'safe.' Third, the player pays the SEC — and fourth, the player gets a pass from the Justice Department." Khuzami has been criticized for the new policy, which Republican Senator
Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate, and the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States sen ...
says, based on Aguirre's accusations, the SEC's own enforcement manual prohibits and the senator has asked for an explanation of Khuzami's remarks."Grassley asks enforcement agencies to explain top official's comment about helping defense counsel"
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, press release. (February 10, 2011) Retrieved February 19, 2011
Khuzami strongly disputed the concerns raised about the cooperation program in a February 18, 2011 letter addressed to Senator Grassley. He noted that the cooperation program was fully supported by all five SEC commissioners in a January 2010 policy statement, and in doing so recognized the value that cooperators bring to the enforcement program. He described how the DOJ ( Department of Justice) makes its own decisions about how to resolve its cases, and has its own procedures and considerations for evaluating and handling potential cooperators, which they would not and could not delegate to the SEC. As such, Khuzami wrote that the cooperation initiative operates in complete accord with long-standing SEC practice and the guidance in its enforcement manual. The value of the cooperation program was recently underscored when Khuzami issued a public statement in connection with the AXA Rosenberg Group LLC case. In that case, a cooperating witness's assistance was credited with a quantitative hedge fund paying $217 million to harmed investors, a $27.5 million penalty, and the responsible manager, Barr M. Rosenberg, was given a lifetime bar from the industry. A few months later, in August 2011,
Matt Taibbi Matthew Colin Taibbi (; born March 2, 1970) is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. A former contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'', he is an author of several books, co-host o ...
reported that for two decades, the SEC had been "systematically destroying records of its preliminary investigations once they ereclosed," making it harder and less likely that Wall Street crimes would be investigated and ultimately prosecuted.Matt Taibbi
"Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?"
''Rolling Stone'' (August 17, 2011) Retrieved March 16, 2012
On August 17, 2011, Senator Grassley again wrote to the SEC to address a
whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
's evidence of document destruction.Joshua Gallu
"Grassley Questions SEC Over Claims That Records Were Purged"
''Bloomberg News'' (August 18, 2001) Retrieved March 16, 2012
Khuzami said Shapiro asked him to reply to questions raised by Grassley regarding the destruction of documents. In his reply, he claimed that investigations had not been hampered. Khuzami noted that this policy was not applied to SEC investigations, but only to "pre-investigation inquiries," which are simply a "quick look at readily available information in order to determine whether an ctualinvestigation should be opened." Khuzami said that the unavailability of documents in this limited category of inquiries was unlikely to impact an actual investigation because: (i) the SEC retained key information concerning such inquiries in a searchable, electronic database dated from 1998, which assists staff members in "connecting the dots" between present and past inquiries; (ii) that since 2003, these inquiries were either closed or converted to an "investigation" after only 60 days, a very short period during which it is unlikely that significant materials had been obtained and/or could not be duplicated; and (iii) SEC staff were prohibited from issuing subpoenas for testimony or documents during these limited inquiries, and thus documents obtained were from publicly available sources and could be retrieved. According to ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', Grassley was unimpressed.Jessica Holzer
"SEC's Khuzami: Current Probes Not Hurt by Records Destruction"
''The Wall Street Journal'' (August 14, 2011) Retrieved March 16, 2012
He said in a statement, "It doesn't make sense that an agency responsible for investigations would want to get rid of potential evidence." The statement continued, "If these charges are true, the agency needs to explain why it destroyed documents, how many documents it destroyed over what time frame, and to what extent its actions were consistent with the law." He said, "The SEC's argument seems to rely on its claim that nothing significant was destroyed," but then noted that the claim cannot be verified, since the documents are no longer available. The Inspector General of the SEC conducted an investigation into the matter and concluded that (i) the policy in question had been in place since 1981; (ii) there was "no improper motive" behind the longstanding policy; and (iii) there was no evidence that particular investigations were hampered by the destruction of records, although they had not conducted an exhaustive audit or review."


Kirkland & Ellis LLP

From August 2013 through January 2018, Khuzami was a partner in the Government and Internal Investigations Group in the New York and Washington DC offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.  His practice focused on representing individuals and companies implicated in U.S. and foreign civil and criminal enforcement actions, as well as parallel class actions and civil litigation.


Deputy US Attorney

On January 5, 2018 interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman named Khuzami as Deputy US Attorney for Manhattan. In that new role, Khuzami was second-in-command of the Office's over 230 civil and criminal Assistant United States Attorneys who prosecute cases involving terrorism, public corruption, narcotics, organized and violent gang activity, civil rights, securities fraud and other misconduct.  Due to the recusal of U.S. Attorney Berman, Khuzami became the Acting United States Attorney in charge of the case of ''United States'' v. ''Cohen'', in which Michael Cohen the ex-counsel to President Donald Trump, was convicted of tax, bank fraud and campaign finance violations, the latter of which arose out of the payment of secret hush-money payments to two women as part of a "catch and kill" strategy designed to benefit the 2016 presidential campaign of President Trump.Prosecutor Who Led Case Against Michael Cohen to Step Down, ''The New York Times'' (March 22, 2019); Retrieved November 4, 2019.  In connection with that case, Khuzami signed off on the April 2018 raid of Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's home and office because Berman was recused from the case. Khuzami commuted from Washington D.C. to New York City while serving as Deputy U.S. Attorney, and left the position in March 2019 to return to his home and family in Washington D.C.


Guggenheim Partners

On September 3, 2019, Khuzami joined financial services firm Guggenheim Partners as Managing Partner and Chief Legal Officer. Guggenheim has three primary business lines: a premier asset management and investor advisor business; a full-service investment banking and capital markets business; and insurance services.


Revolving door

Khuzami resigned from his position as Director of Enforcement and ended his employment with the SEC in January 2013, after four years of service. In July 2013, he accepted a job at Kirkland & Ellis, a large Chicago-based corporate law firm, in its Washington, D.C. office. Khuzami is a partner in Kirkland's Government & Internal Investigations Practice Group. In their series called "Revolving Door", ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said: "As a partner at Kirkland, Mr. Khuzami will represent some of the same corporations that the S.E.C. oversees. Critics say this revolving door — common at the S.E.C. — undermines the agency's independence and links it inextricably to Wall Street." Khuzami has been profiled by
OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...
as a featured Revolver in its Revolving Door database.


Political affiliation

While Khuzami was selected to serve as Enforcement Director by Mary Schapiro, the SEC Chairman appointed by Democratic President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, he also spoke before the 2004
Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
on behalf of then-president
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
for the extension of the Patriot Act. On April 28, 2005, he testified before the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and
Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...
in support of the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. He also donated a maximum individual contribution of $2,300 to the presidential campaign of
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
.


Recognition and awards

In 1996, Khuzami was awarded the Attorney General's Exceptional Service Award, which recognizes "extraordinary courage and voluntary risk of life in performing an act resulting in direct benefits to the Department of Justice or the nation." In 1997, he received the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation's Federal Prosecutor Award. In 2001, he received the
Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...
Award for Outstanding Public Service from the
New York City Bar Association The New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization, formally known as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, has been headquartered in a ...
. In 2009, Khuzami was named by ''
Ethisphere Magazine The Ethisphere Institute is a for-profit company that defines and measures corporate ethical standards, recognizes companies that excel, and promotes best practices in corporate ethics. The company is located in Scottsdale, Arizona. The compan ...
'' as No. 34 in the list of the year's "100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics." In October 2012, '' Worth'' identified him as No. 40 in "The 100 Most Powerful People in Finance." Khuzami delivered the 2019 Commencement Address to Boston University School of Law.Robert Khuzami School of Law Convocation Speaker, available on YouTube (June 3, 2019); available at https://www.c-span.org (May 28, 2019).


References


External links

* * Matt Taibbi
"Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?"
''Rolling Stone'' (August 17, 2011) Retrieved August 18, 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Khuzami, Robert U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission personnel American prosecutors American people of Lebanese descent Boston University School of Law alumni University of Rochester alumni People associated with Kirkland & Ellis People associated with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft New York (state) Republicans Washington, D.C., Republicans