Mary Jo White, the former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, is under consideration to become the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
White, now a partner at law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, would succeed Elisse Walter, who took over as SEC chairman last month, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter isn’t public.
As U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 2002, White became a leading terrorism prosecutor, convicting four followers of Osama bin Laden for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224. Under her direction, prosecutors won convictions for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a failed plot to blow up the United Nations building and other New York landmarks.
White didn’t immediately answer an e-mail seeking comment.
Walter, who spent the past four years as an SEC commissioner, was able to become chairman in December without going through a second Senate confirmation and can stay in the job as long as the end of this year.