[4] He succeeded Meyer Eisenberg as Deputy General Counsel, who retired from the Commission in early January 2006[3] and former General Counsel Brian Cartwright who left the Commission for the private sector in January 2009.

"[3] 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.

[5] Vollmer claimed executive privilege in declining to answer some questions,[6][7] 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.

[5][8][9] On 18 February 2009, 14 days later, the SEC announced that Vollmer would 'leave the Commission and return to the private sector'.