On June 8, 2017 he was appointed as co-director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Division, a title he shares with Stephanie Avakian.
[1] From 1996 to 2004, Peikin served as an assistant U.S. attorney, overseeing the securities and commodities task force for the Southern District of New York.
[2] Among his clients in private practice at Sullivan & Cromwell, Mr. Peikin has helped represent Barclays against accusations of sanctions violations, LIBOR manipulation and insider trading[3] and Goldman Sachs Group, during a U.S. Senate investigation of its trading and warehousing of aluminum and other commodities.
The SEC's ethics rules bar Peikin from supervising any cases that affect Goldman or other clients of Sullivan & Cromwell for one year.
[5] As co-chair of the division, he has cited cybercrime as one of the biggest threats to the financial markets and an enforcement priority of the agency..[6]