NEW YORK — Wall Street’s smallest regulator has hired a big-name enforcement director. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Tuesday that Aitan D. Goelman, a former federal prosecutor turned white-collar defense lawyer, would become the head of the agency’s enforcement division. Goelman, a 45-year-old trial lawyer, will join the agency from the Washington office of Zuckerman Spaeder, where he is a partner.
“He will be a tough, aggressive, and fair leader at a critical time in the commission’s history,” Timothy G. Massad, who became chairman of the agency last week, said in a statement.
Goelman will inherit a huge docket at the trading commission, both of current cases and promising investigations. The agency, for example, is investigating some of the world’s biggest banks for potential manipulation of foreign currencies. It is also wrapping up a series of cases against banks suspected of manipulating a benchmark interest rate known as the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a crackdown that has already led to settlements with UBS and other banking giants.
Goelman succeeds David Meister, a former federal prosecutor who oversaw the Libor cases and the early days of the currency case. Gretchen Lowe, a top deputy to Meister, filled the role on an interim basis.
“I especially want to thank Gretchen Lowe for her skilled leadership and dedication, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with her,” Massad said in the statement.