The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said that its inspector general, H. David Kotz, will leave the agency at the end of January to become the managing director in the Washington office of the private investigative services firm Gryphon Strategies.
Kotz, who will conduct corporate fraud investigations as well as assist whistleblowers in exposing fraud and improving government accountability at Gryphon, was appointed as the SEC’s IG in December 2007.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro (left) said in a statement that Kotz’s “work helped us to identify areas where we needed to improve the way we operate, bolster our resources, and upgrade our technology.”
One of Kotz’s more recent reports, for instance, was the September 2011 report regarding conflicts of interest in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme case, specifically as they related to former SEC general counsel David Becker. Kotz said in his report that Becker “participated personally and substantially” in particular matters in which he had a personal financial interest because his mother’s estate included an account managed by Madoff.