A former Manhattan-based federal prosecutor was appointed Monday as the new director of enforcement for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
David Meister, who is an attorney at Skadden Arps, will replace Acting Enforcement Director Vincent McGonagle. Before joining Skadden, Meisteer was an assistant U.S. attorney in New York’s Southern District, where he was on the office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.
Meister is joining the CFTC as it works to implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial law. That law gave the commission sweeping new powers to police the $615 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market. It also bolstered the agency’s anti-manipulation powers and gave it new tools to police against disruptive trading practices.
“David Meister brings significant experience as both a prosecutor and an attorney in private practice,” CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. “As the commission implements the Dodd-Frank Act’s new provisions against fraud, manipulation and other disruptive trading practices, David’s background and leadership will be invaluable.”
The CFTC is not the first regulatory agency to seek expertise of a former federal prosecutor.
After the Bernard Madoff scandal, the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009 tapped former federal prosecutor Robert Khuzami as its new enforcement director. Khuzami also worked in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office where he helped convict Patrick Bennett for running a Ponzi scheme that caused investors to lose $700 million.
The CFTC has not had a permanent enforcement director since 2008. In 2008, Stephen J. Obie came to Washington from the New York office to serve as acting director after Gregory Mocek departed the CFTC for private practice. Obie served in that role until early this month when he returned to his old job in the CFTC’s New York office.
McGonagle was appointed acting director on Oct. 1 and will continue to serve in that role until Meister arrives.
“I am pleased to be joining the CFTC at this critical time in the agency’s history,” Meister said in a press release. “I am honored to assist the commission in pursuing the agency’s important mission.”
Meister is a graduate of the Columbia University Law School and a member of the Judiciary Committee of the New York Bar Association.
While working as a prosecutor, he was involved in cases involving market manipulation, insider-trading and securities and commodities fraud, among other things.
