An attorney who led one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s biggest insider-trading probes and a former partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have been chosen as deputy heads of the SEC’s enforcement group, people familiar with the appointments said.
George Curtis, head of the SEC’s Denver office, and Scott Friestad, associate director of the division in Washington, will replace Walter Ricciardi, whose departure was announced Monday, and Peter Bres nan, who left last year.
Curtis, 60, joined the SEC in 2006 to oversee enforcement and compliance examinations in six states. He previously had been a partner in Gibson, Dunn’s office in Denver since 1984, after joining the firm in 1976. He also worked in the 950-lawyer firm’s Los Angeles headquarters and San Francisco office.
Friestad last year oversaw the investigation of an insider-trading network involving former employees at firms that included UBS, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley.
