SEC enforcement director to join law firm

Bill Baker, formerly associate director of the division of enforcement at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is to join Latham & Watkins as a partner in the law firm's Washington, DC, office, on February 18.

Baker will join the global securities litigation and professional liability practice, which represents clients in class action securities fraud matters, derivatives litigation, SEC and other regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings.

Baker left the SEC at the end of November 2002. Most recently, he spearheaded the SEC’s investigation into accounting irregularities at Mississippi-based telecommunications company WorldCom. During his 15-year career with the SEC, Baker worked on key enforcement initiatives to counter a variety of illegal activities; these include fraud, insider trading, securities firms’ systematic marking up of government securities and clearing violations.

In 1999 and 2000, Baker was also involved in the investigation of the Manhattan Investment Fund, managed by Michael Berger. The fund, which specialised in short-selling US equities, lost $400 million of investors’ capital in what is believed to be the largest hedge fund fraud to date.