WASHINGTON – Andrew Ceresney will rejoin Debevoise & Plimpton in early March after stepping down in January as the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement director, the law firm announced on Tuesday.
Ceresney, who served as the SEC's top cop from April 2013 to December 2016, will co-chair Debevoise's litigation department and will primarily practice in the firm's white collar and regulatory defense group. He co-chaired that group during his prior stint at the firm from 2003 until he joined the SEC.
He is expected to represent companies, boards of directors and individuals in criminal, SEC, and other state and federal regulatory matters, according to the firm. He will also handle internal corporate investigations and complex civil litigation.
"Andrew's experience successfully leading the SEC's enforcement division, including coordinating with other federal and state enforcement agencies at the highest level, will enable him to bring an invaluable perspective to our clients on their most important matters," said Michael Blair, the presiding partner at Debevoise. "Andrew is not only one of the leading white collar lawyers in the country, but a true public servant who continues the firm's long and proud tradition of our lawyers serving in critical government roles."
Ceresney said in the firm's statement that he is "thrilled to be coming back home to Debevoise."
"Not only does the firm have, by far, the strongest white collar practice in the world, but the relationships I developed during my earlier tenure at the firm, and the firm's unique culture, made this decision an easy one," he said.
Ceresney helped to bring several ground-breaking municipal bond and other enforcement cases during his time with the SEC.
The division filed charges against 72 municipal underwriting firms that comprised 96% of the market share for muni underwritings, as well as 71 issuers under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative. Ceresney also oversaw the first SEC case to 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 disclosure 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 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.
Prior to joining Debevoise in 2003, Ceresney was deputy chief appellate attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he also was a member of the securities and commodities fraud task force and the major crimes unit.
He is a graduate of Columbia College and Yale Law School.
