Christopher R. Conte, SEC’s Associate Director Of Enforcement, Moves To Steptoe

Christopher R. Conte, an Associate Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, will leave the SEC next month after nearly 18 years at the agency to become a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. 

Conte joined the SEC as a staff attorney in November 1992. He was promoted to the positions of Branch Chief in 1997, Deputy Assistant Director in 1999, and Assistant Director in 2000. Mr. Conte became an Associate Director in October 2006.
 
Conte has overseen many significant enforcement cases ranging from accounting fraud and disclosure violations to unlawful market timing. For example, Conte played a lead role in the SEC's enforcement actions against Dell Inc. and its senior officers and against former executives at Comverse Technology. He also helped guide the SEC's cases against Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Robertson Stephens, Inc., involving allegedly unlawful IPO allocation practices.