| Andy Vollmer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General Counsel of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Acting | |
| In office January 2009 – February 2009 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Chair | Elisse B. Walter (acting) Mary Schapiro |
| Preceded by | Brian Cartwright |
| Succeeded by | David M. Becker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Andrew Neill Vollmer (1953-08-14) August 14, 1953 (age 71) |
| Education | University of Virginia (JD) Miami University (BA) |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Andrew Neill Vollmer (born August 14, 1953) is an American lawyer. He retired as partner in the securities department at law firm WilmerHale. Prior to April 2009, he had been Deputy General Counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and acting General Counsel. He succeeded Meyer Eisenberg as Deputy General Counsel, who retired from the Commission in early January 2006 and former General Counsel Brian Cartwright who left the Commission for the private sector in January 2009.
Education
Mr. Vollmer received his J.D. in 1978 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review. He earned his B.A. from Miami University.
Before the SEC
He was previously a partner in the international law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where he served as Vice Chair of the firm's Securities Department and previously served as one of two partners managing the firm's London office. He is co-author of a monograph on "Internal Corporate Investigations."
Tenure at SEC
As acting General Counsel, Vollmer was quickly thrust into the news media's attention as he testified on February 4, 2009 before the United States House Committee on Financial Services subcommittee with SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement Linda Thomsen and other senior staff from the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The subject of the hearings were on why the SEC had failed to act when Harry Markopolos, a private fraud investigator from Boston alerted the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing his persistent and unsuccessful efforts to get the SEC to investigate Bernard L. Madoff, beginning in 1999. Vollmer claimed executive privilege in declining to answer some questions, and Vollmer and the other SEC officials' lack of cooperation with the enquiry was strongly criticised by Subcommittee chairman Paul Kanjorski and Representative Gary Ackerman.
On 18 February 2009, 14 days later, the SEC announced that Vollmer would 'leave the Commission and return to the private sector'. It was later announced that he would take up a post with his former firm, WilmerHale.
References
- Hubbell, Martindale (April 2003). Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (Volume 4). Martindale-Hubbell. p. DC928B. ISBN 9781561605514.
- ^ Former SEC General Counsel Rejoins WilmerHale, Law360, 2009-04-03, retrieved 2009-04-14
- ^ Andrew Vollmer Named SEC Deputy General Counsel, Washington, D.C.: Securities and Exchange Commission, June 5, 2006
- ^ Qualters, Sheri (January 26, 2009), "SEC Taps Deputy GC as Acting GC", National Law Journal
- ^ Henriques, Diana (February 4, 2009), "Anger and Drama at a House Hearing on Madoff", The New York Times
- Jamieson, Dan (February 4, 2009), "SEC officials dodge questions; one claims privilege", InvestmentNews
- Ahrens, Frank (February 5, 2009), "Lawmakers Sink Teeth Into the SEC: Agency Mocked for Not Catching Madoff", The Washington Post, pp. D01
- Ahr, Ahmed (2009). The Sheep and the Guardians: Diary of a SEC Sanctioned Swindle. Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford Publishing. p. 300. ISBN 978-1426910319.
- Ahrens, Frank. "SEC Evasion On Madoff Infuriates Lawmakers". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- Acting General Counsel Andrew Vollmer to Leave SEC, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Feb 18, 2009, retrieved 6 March 2009
External links
- Written testimony (not a transcript)
- Transcript of CNN coverage of Vollmer testimony
- Video of Congressman Gary Ackerman questioning Andy Vollmer, SEC Acting General Counsel on claiming Executive Privilege