The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Anthony S. Kelly has been named Co-Chief of the Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, which focuses on misconduct by investment advisers, investment companies, and private funds. He joins Marshall Sprung as Co-Chief of the unit and succeeds Julie Riewe, who left the agency last month.
Mr. Kelly has investigated or supervised enforcement cases that addressed a wide range of misconduct across the asset management industry. Mr. Kelly supervised the SEC’s first cases under its authority to bring anti-retaliation enforcement actions, which included charges against a hedge fund adviser, and arising from an initiative to protect mutual fund shareholders from bearing the costs when firms improperly use fund assets to pay for distribution-related services. Mr. Kelly also helped secure a $39 million settlement with three private equity fund advisers within The Blackstone Group for their failure to properly disclose accelerated monitoring fees as well as discounts on legal fees and a settlement from a mutual fund adviser, its principal, and three mutual fund board members charged with failing to satisfy their statutory obligations in connection with the evaluation and approval of mutual fund advisory contracts. Mr. Kelly also has extensive experience in insider trading investigations, including the SEC’s case against a former private equity firm associate over whom the SEC prevailed at trial.
“Anthony’s wide-ranging experience in enforcement and examinations, along with his exceptional judgment and dogged investigative skills will be tremendous assets in rooting out fraud in the asset management industry,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “I am confident that he and Marshall will be strong leaders in the Asset Management Unit bringing significant actions against investment advisers, investment companies, and other asset management participants who engage in unlawful conduct.”
“As someone who joined the Asset Management Unit at its inception, I have a great sense of pride in the unit and all that it has accomplished in its first six years,” said Mr. Kelly. “I am truly honored for this opportunity to lead the unit with Marshall, and I look forward to working with our talented and dedicated colleagues throughout the country as we build on the many successes the unit has achieved in protecting investors across the asset management industry.”
Mr. Kelly joined the SEC in 2000 as a securities compliance examiner in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations’ Broker-Dealer Group. Mr. Kelly attended law school while working as an examiner and he joined the Enforcement Division following graduation and served as a staff attorney and senior counsel. In May 2011, Mr. Kelly served as a special counsel in the Division of Trading and Markets’ Office of Trading Practices before re-joining the Enforcement Division in April 2012. He was promoted to Assistant Director in the Asset Management Unit in August 2012.
Mr. Kelly received the agency’s Chairman’s Award for Excellence in 2010 and Ellen B. Ross Award in 2009. Mr. Kelly earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2004 and his undergraduate degree with highest honors from George Washington University in 1999.
SEC Press Release
--- If you need help with a securities litigation, arbitration or litigation issue, email Mark Astarita or call 212-509-6544 to speak to a securities lawyer.
