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Commissioner Christopher Cox Esq.


Self Description

December 2005: "Christopher Cox was appointed by President Bush as the 28th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 2, 2005, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 29, 2005. He was sworn in on August 3, 2005.

Chairman Cox was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Orange County, California, in 1988. He served for 10 years in the Majority Leadership of the House, from 1994 until 2005, as Chairman of the House Policy Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security; Chairman of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security; Chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security (the predecessor to the permanent House Committee); Chairman of the Task Force on Capital Markets; and Chairman of the Task Force on Budget Process Reform.

During his service in Congress, Chairman Cox served in a leadership capacity as a senior Member of every committee with jurisdiction over investor protection and U.S. capital markets...

From 1986 until 1988, Chairman Cox served in the White House as Senior Associate Counsel to the President. In that capacity, he advised the President on a wide range of matters, including reform of the federal budget process and the 1987 stock market crash.

From 1978 to 1986, he specialized in venture capital and corporate finance with the international law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he was the partner in charge of the Corporate Department in Orange County and a member of the firm's national management. In 1982-83, Chairman Cox took a leave of absence from Latham & Watkins to teach federal income tax at Harvard Business School. He also co-founded Context Corporation, publisher of the English translation of the Soviet Union's daily newspaper, Pravda. In 1977-78, he was law clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Herbert Choy.

In 1977, Chairman Cox simultaneously received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received a B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1973 after pursuing an accelerated three-year course."

http://www.sec.gov/about/commissioner/cox.htm

Third-Party Descriptions

June 2009: "The outcome, though discouraging to the team, was not a complete surprise, sources said. After Cox became SEC chairman in mid-2005, he adopted practices that undermined the enforcement division's efforts to investigate cases of corporate wrongdoing and punish those involved, according to interviews with 19 current and former SEC officials."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/31/AR2009053102254.html

January 2009: "Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has said oversight of the municipal bond markets is inadequate, and has urged Congress to take steps to protect both investors and taxpayers. Congress has not taken up the initiative."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/business/09insure.html

December 2008: 'Christopher Cox, chairman of the S.E.C., ordered an internal investigation last week into what he said were the agency’s “multiple failures” to investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing by Mr. Madoff.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/25fraud.html

July 2008: "Talk of adequate capital also brings to mind comments made last March, when Bear Stearns was on the ropes, by Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He tried to calm investors by telling them that Bear Stearns passed financial muster. Days later, the firm was toe-tagged."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/business/13gret.html

July 2008: "The chairman of the S.E.C., Christopher Cox, said the commission would institute an order to limit the ability of traders to bet against the shares of Fannie and Freddie, the mortgage finance giants, which plunged again on Tuesday."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/business/16short.html

September 2007: Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and state regulators said they expected soon to propose guidelines prohibiting sales agents from using titles that imply an expertise in financial issues for older Americans, when that designation has little or no value.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/business/06adviser.html

April 2005: "But congressional observers say it is all but inevitable that the ultimate compromise on the issue will result in a guaranteed minimum of about 0.25 percent. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is endorsing that solution in a bill to be introduced later this week."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47964-2005Apr12.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Student/Trainee (past or present) Harvard University Organization Dec 9, 2005
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Organization Dec 9, 2005
Student/Trainee (past or present) University of Southern California (USC ) Organization Dec 9, 2005
Advisor/Consultant to (past or present) President George Herbert Walker Bush Person Dec 9, 2005
Appointed/Selected by President George W. Bush Person Dec 25, 2008
Successor to William "Bill" H. Donaldson Person Dec 22, 2011
Appointed/Selected H. David Kotz Person May 19, 2009

Articles and Resources

32 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 12]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Sep 02, 2009 Report Details How Madoff’s Web Ensnared S.E.C.

QUOTE: “despite numerous credible and detailed complaints,” the S.E.C. never took “the necessary, but basic, steps to determine if [Bernard L.] Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme.”

 New York Times
Aug 04, 2009 Dueling Public Interests In Policing Rescued Firms: SEC Actions Could Weigh on U.S. Stakes

QUOTE: the quandary [the SEC filing suit against Regions Financial] shows the difficulty facing the nation's top Wall Street cop at a time when the economic crisis has left the U.S. government as the part-owner or controller of an unprecedented array of financial companies. Protecting investors on the one hand could mean harming taxpayer-owners on the other.

 Washington Post
Jun 01, 2009 In Cox Years at the SEC, Policies Undercut Action: Red Tape Halted Cases, Drove Down Penalties

QUOTE: After [Christopher] Cox became SEC chairman in mid-2005, he adopted practices that undermined the enforcement division's efforts to investigate cases of corporate wrongdoing and punish those involved...

 Washington Post
Feb 19, 2009 F.B.I. Finds Financier Suspected of Fraud

QUOTE: Officials say they suspect that Mr. [Robert Allen] Stanford’s company, the Stanford Group, used artificially inflated certificates of deposit at its bank in Antigua to bilk investors.

 New York Times
Jan 08, 2009 Nationwide Inquiry on Bids for Municipal Bonds

QUOTE: appears to be collusion among the banks and other companies that have helped state and local governments take approximately $400 billion worth of municipal notes and bonds to market each year....companies did not engage in open competition for this lucrative business, but secretly divided it among themselves, imposing layers of excess cost on local governments, violating the federal rules for tax-exempt bonds and making questionable payments and campaign contributions to local officials who could steer them business.

 New York Times
Dec 24, 2008 Federal Cases of Stock Fraud Drop Sharply

QUOTE: At the S.E.C., agency investigations that led to Justice Department prosecutions for securities fraud dropped from 69 in 2000 to just 9 in 2007, a decline of 87 percent...

 New York Times
Jul 16, 2008 S.E.C. Unveils Measures to Limit Short-Selling

QUOTE: The Securities and Exchange Commission, under pressure to respond to the tumult in the financial industry, announced emergency measures on Tuesday to curb certain kinds of short-selling that aims at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as Wall Street banks. The chairman of the S.E.C., Christopher Cox, said the commission would institute an order to limit the ability of traders to bet against the shares of Fannie and Freddie, the mortgage finance giants, which plunged again on Tuesday.

 New York Times
Jul 13, 2008 The Fannie and Freddie Fallout (Fair Game)

QUOTE: This wasn’t the way the “ownership society” was supposed to work. Investors weren’t supposed to watch their financial stocks plummet more than 70 percent in less than a year. And taxpayers weren’t supposed to be left holding defaulted mortgages and abandoned homes while executives who presided over balance sheet implosions walked away with millions.

 New York Times
Jan 29, 2008 Hidden fees clip boomer nest eggs

QUOTE: From 1985 to 2006, the number of active 401(k) participants climbed fivefold to 50 million...What most of these workers don't know is that fees, rebates and revenue-sharing agreements among employers, 401(k) administrators and mutual funds -- many of them buried in the fine print or not disclosed at all -- are slowing the growth of their nest eggs.

 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sep 06, 2007 Panel Questions Financial Advisers for the Elderly

QUOTE: Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and state regulators said they expected soon to propose guidelines prohibiting sales agents from using titles that imply an expertise in financial issues for older Americans, when that designation has little or no value.

 New York Times
Jun 15, 2007 Go Public, and Face Higher Taxes

QUOTE: If the proposed legislation… is adopted, publicly traded private equity firms and hedge funds would face an additional corporate tax… “It’s unfair to allow a publicly traded company to act like a corporation but not pay corporate tax, contrary to the intent of the tax code,” [Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa] said.

 New York Times
Jun 01, 2007 Top Lawyer, Under Fire, May Depart

QUOTE: While the exact reasons behind Mr. Lerach’s abrupt and surprising career considerations remain unclear, it suggests that a long-running criminal investigation into allegations of kickbacks paid to class-action plaintiffs has gained momentum. What makes the potential departure of Mr. Lerach particularly shocking is that it would come just as he is engaged in his most high-profile case to date...

 New York Times
May 10, 2007 SEC Is Urged To Pursue Banks In Enron Fraud

QUOTE: Activists and former shareholders in the Houston energy trading company implored the Securities and Exchange Commission to file court briefs supporting their legal position in an effort to revive a case against such banks as Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston and Barclays.

 Washington Post
Apr 23, 2007 Christopher Cox: The chairman of the SEC has a personal interest in protecting seniors from financial scammers.

QUOTE: Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission...explains how his elderly parents were barraged with sales ploys. And he clarifies how the SEC fulfills one of its missions: to ensure that all investors are protected as they plan and save for retirement.

 Bankrate.com
Mar 09, 2007 Trading Halted For 35 Firms Over E-Mails: SEC's 'Operation Spamalot' Targets Penny-Stock Hype

QUOTE: Securities regulators yesterday halted trading in nearly three dozen companies -- the initial salvo in "Operation Spamalot," a campaign to block e-mails promoting stocks to unsuspecting investors.Securities regulators yesterday halted trading in nearly three dozen companies -- the initial salvo in "Operation Spamalot," a campaign to block e-mails promoting stocks to unsuspecting investors. The crackdown against investment spam amounts to the biggest such action in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders lost tens of millions of dollars in the past year by biting on fraudulent Internet offers to "ride the bull" or win "fast money" by buying thinly traded stocks, agency officials said.

 Washington Post
Mar 02, 2007 SEC Files Charges in Wall Street Insider Trading Scheme: Plots Touch 4 Elite Wall Street Firms

QUOTE: Federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges against more than a dozen people, including former executives at four of Wall Street's elite institutions, accused of engaging in thousands of improper trades in two schemes that netted more than $15 million in profit.

 Washington Post
Feb 13, 2007 S.E.C. Seeks to Curtail Investor Suits

QUOTE: Critics said that the moves signaled a major retrenchment from the post-Enron changes and showed that a lobbying push by big companies, Wall Street firms and the accounting industry was gaining traction as they seek to roll back what they see as onerous regulation and excessive investor litigation.

 New York Times
Nov 14, 2006 Internet Firms Seek Rollback of Quote Fees: Coalition to Ask SEC to Reconsider Charges for Posting Real-Time Stock Prices

QUOTE: "A coalition of leading Internet companies, including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and IAC/Interactive Corp., plans today to petition the Securities and Exchange Commission to reconsider new fees that U.S. stock exchanges charge them for posting real-time stock quotes on their Web sites."

 Washington Post
Sep 07, 2006 Congress Is Urged to Hold Off Acting on Options and Pay

QUOTE: The Senate appears to have embraced executive pay as an issue that could play well with voters. But with no bills in the works and the legislative session winding down, it is unclear how serious the latest bid for reform is. Moreover, no sitting corporate chief executive or their representatives were invited to testify.

 New York Times
Sep 06, 2006 Report Estimates the Costs of a Stock Options Scandal

QUOTE: “From a shareholder’s perspective, it’s not just the extra compensation the executives got, it’s not just the extra taxes they have to pay,” said H. Nejat Seyhun, “There may be additional payouts for class-action lawsuits as well as worrying about the quality of the top management.”

 New York Times

32 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 12]