A candidate favored by moderate Democrats is former SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson Jr., who opposed many of the Trump-era rule cuts during his stint at the agency. Jackson, who’s now a law professor at New York University, wrote a New York Times op-ed in 2018 with Bharara arguing that insider-trading laws needed to be clarified to better protect investors.
All of the potential SEC nominees named in this article either declined to comment or didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Gensler, who is known for his hard-charging leadership style, has already reached out to high-level SEC officials to get a sense of what’s happening at the agency, said a person familiar with the matter. His appointment as head of the transition team examining the Federal Reserve and banking and securities regulators has set off a stir among SEC workers, some of whom are wondering if it gives him an edge in being nominated for chairman, this person added.
Along with his policy work that includes jobs in Bill Clinton’s Treasury Department, Gensler has clashed with Wall Street in the enforcement arena, spearheading global investigations into the manipulation of Libor that resulted in banks paying billions of dollars in penalties. Still, it’s not clear that Gensler, who led the CFTC under President Barack Obama, would want the SEC job, particularly if a cabinet post or a prominent White House position is on the table.
Bharara, who became U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2009, might also view the SEC as a consolation prize, as he’s been mentioned as a possible contender to lead the Justice Department. Fired by President Donald Trump in 2017, Bharara was once a top aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
It’s standard practice for an SEC chairman to step down when an administration changes. Once the head of the agency leaves, one of the commissioners is installed as the acting leader until a permanent replacement is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Trump’s SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton, hasn’t yet announced whether he plans to resign or what he might do next after leaving the regulator. Before joining the SEC in 2017, he was a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, where his clients included big banks and hedge funds.
--With assistance from Greg Farrell, Jennifer Epstein and Saleha Mohsin.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.