"In almost 20 years at the SEC, Tom Newkirk has exemplified the best of public service," said Stephen M. Cutler, Director of the Division of Enforcement. "During his tenure, Tom has labored tirelessly in his work on behalf of the investing public, consistently exercising an intelligence, wisdom and judgment that reflect the highest traditions and values of the Commission's enforcement program. He is an outstanding lawyer. Both the Division and I, personally, will miss him."
Chairman William H. Donaldson said, “Tom Newkirk has been a great asset to the Commission. During my tenure as Chairman, he has consistently impressed me with his intelligent, tough, and fair approach to the work we do here. He has brought to fruition some of the most important, complicated cases we have filed.”
Newkirk said, “It has been a high privilege to serve the Commission, our capital markets and investors for the past nineteen years. I have been extremely fortunate to work with extraordinarily talented colleagues on the challenging work at the Commission and I will miss it and them.”
As Associate Enforcement Director since 1993, Newkirk successfully organized, managed and directed SEC enforcement investigations in all areas of the SEC’s jurisdiction and provided legal advice to senior SEC officials and the Commission. Some of the landmark SEC investigations he directed include:
- major financial fraud cases involving Royal Ahold, PNC Financial Services Group, Tyco, Arthur Andersen, Waste Management, Sunbeam and Cendant;
- mutual fund cases against The Dreyfus Corporation and Kemper Financial Services involving misallocation of investment opportunities;
- broker-dealer cases against Prudential Securities where the Commission obtained reimbursement of almost one billion dollars for investors defrauded in the sale of limited partnerships and Gruntal & Company for misappropriating escheat funds; and
- In the Matter of Certain Options Exchanges, a case involving the options exchanges’ failure to compete in the listing of options and to police their own markets.
From 1986 to 1992, Newkirk served as the SEC Enforcement Division’s Chief Litigation Counsel where he directed the Commission’s litigation against Drexel Burnham Lambert and Michael Milken, First Jersey and Eddie Antar (“Crazy Eddie”), and many emergency relief cases to freeze the proceeds of insider trading and halt on-going frauds.
During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Newkirk was the Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Energy, where he helped secure two of the largest judgments ever collected by the government in U.S. v. Exxon ($2 billion) and In re Dept. of Energy Stripper Well Litigation ($1 billion). He has also been a Senior Attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice, an Assistant Counsel for the U.S. Senate’s Securities Industry Study, and an associate in a major Wall Street law firm.
Newkirk received numerous awards including two Presidential Meritorious Executive Awards, the SEC’s Law and Policy Award, the Commission’s Capital Markets Award and the SEC’s Distinguished Service Award, the Commission’s highest honor.
Newkirk graduated in 1966 from Cornell Law School, Order of the Coif, Phi Kappa Phi. He was a member of the Cornell Law Review’s board of editors.
