Kotz has referred other matters to criminal authorities, including allegations that SEC officials backdated leasing documents to hide a missed deadline and that two employees engaged in insider trading. The Justice Department doesn't necessarily have to open a case based on the referral.
Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican who is chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Texas Republican who heads a Financial Services subcommittee on investigations, have spearheaded a congressional review of the matter. Neugebauer's panel and an Oversight subcommittee have scheduled the joint hearing for Sept. 22.
Becker, 64, worked as a clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed after graduating from Columbia University School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review. He was the SEC's general counsel from 1999 to 2002 before rejoining the agency in 2009. After leaving the SEC in February, he returned to law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as a partner.