David M. Becker

Who is David M. Becker?

David M. Becker, now a partner at Cleary Gottlieb, was twice General Counsel and Senior Policy Director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission

Becker graduated from Columbia College and Columbia University Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review. He then was a law clerk for Judge Harold Leventhal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and a year later for Justice Stanley Reed of the U.S. Supreme Court.

He served from January 2000 to May 2002 after joining the SEC staff as Deputy General Counsel in 1998, and again beginning in 2009. He left the second time in 2011.

SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz, in performing a Madoff-related investigation that after the scheme was uncovered, made a finding that Becker recommended how the victims would be compensated, despite the fact that Becker's family had a $2 million inheritance in Madoff account. Kotz referred the matter to the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division. Becker indicated that he had notified seven senior SEC officials about the account, including the Chairman and the SEC's ethics officer, and none suggested that he recuse himself. Becker said: