Exclusive: SEC Selects Shamoil Shipchandler to Lead Regional Office

By Mark Curriden

(Aug. 17) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to announce Wednesday that former East Texas federal prosecutor Shamoil Shipchandler is the agency’s next director of the Texas region, The Texas Lawbook has learned from multiple sources.

Shipchandler, who is currently a partner in the Dallas office of Bracewell & Giuliani, will lead the SEC’s Fort Worth-based operations, which regulates all financial activities involving publicly traded companies, financial institutions, securities operators, private equity firms and hedge funds in Texas and three surrounding states.

The SEC’s decision to make Shipchandler, who is 41, the regional director is likely a sign that the agency’s leadership wants its Texas enforcement division to focus more on fraudulent activity of businesses and individuals and less on technical violations of federal securities laws.

“Shamoil is an excellent choice,” says Xerox Deputy General Counsel Clay Scheitzack. “Because Shamoil comes from a career of putting real criminals in prison, I think you will see more of a focus on fraud.

Prosecutors like Shamoil tend to distinguish between the books and records violators versus someone who is truly doing harm to others,” Scheitzack says.

Legal experts say that Shipchandler will likely de-emphasize the “broken windows” approach in which the SEC focuses on small infractions in hopes of preventing bigger violations in the future.

“I think he’s going to place a higher priority on out-right fraud and not be as concerned with minor technical violations,” says Steve Korotash, the former deputy director of enforcement at the SEC in Texas.

“Shamoil, in my opinion, is going to be looking for real criminals doing real damage and causing people to suffer,” says Korortash, who is now a partner at Morgan Lewis in Dallas.

Shipchandler spent a decade prosecuting individuals and companies on charges of bank and securities fraud. He joined Bracewell in April 2014. He declined to comment for this article.

Kit Addleman, a former SEC director, says the selection of Shipchandler is not surprising because he falls into the model of SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White, a former New York federal prosecutor, and SEC enforcement chief Andrew Ceresney, also a former prosecutor.

“Shamoil is not a bureaucrat,” says Addleman, a partner at Haynes and Boone in Dallas. “He’s going to find ways to get things done.”