Legal genius Harvey Pitt, who served just 18 months as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission under President George W. Bush, died Tuesday in Washington. he was 78 years old.
He died in hospital after a sudden illness, according to his family, who did not disclose his illness.
Pitt’s career had three successive phases, but any one of them alone could have been the pinnacle of his lesser-known resume. He started his career with his SEC and was promoted to General Counsel at age 30. This is the youngest ever to reach that rank. Just three years after his retirement, he retired from leading law firm Freed as a representative of his Frank’s corporate clients. There, he was promoted to managing partner in the company’s Washington office, where he helped the company make huge profits.
He returned to the SEC as chairman in 2001 after passing a unanimous approval vote in which Sen. Charles Schumer of the New York State Democratic Party called him “Zeus on the ground.” Soon after, Mr. Pitt gained some notoriety for overseeing the swift reopening of the US stock exchange after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
However, amid a series of corporate accounting scandals at energy giant Enron, his popularity has waned, and attention has once again focused on his corporate activities. Representatives from both parties questioned his interest in investigating private sector misconduct.
The final crisis was revealed when he failed to tell the White House and fellow SEC commissioners that the chairman of the accounting committee he was defending headed the audit committee of a company accused of fraud. It was time Under pressure, Pitt resigned on election night in 2002.
Harvey Lloyd Pitt was born on February 28, 1945 in Brooklyn to Morris and Sarah Pitt. His father was the vice president of the Waldbaum supermarket chain. his mother was a housewife.
Harvey, who was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, broke his heart when the team left for the West Coast, according to his family, earning degrees from Brooklyn and St. said to have entered It was the only job he wanted.
In 1978, as his family grew, he opened a private practice where he represented the same people for whom his organization had regulatory responsibilities. His clients included Ivan Boesky, who pleaded guilty to insider trading during the junk bond scandal of the late 1980s, and numerous financial firms.
His reputation was so great that when Mr. Pitt’s own company got into a minor legal battle, his hiring of then-smaller rival Williams & Connolly caused controversy.
Brendan Sullivan, senior partner at Williams & Connolly, said: “It’s worth noting that if Harvey Pitt put his trust in us, others would easily follow suit, and so did they.” said.
Texas Republican Senator Phil Graham said at the confirmation hearing that “Harvey Pitt has seen it from both sides,” twisting lyrics by British rock band The Hermits.
Former commissioner Cynthia Glassman said she was an indomitable figure on the committee. After the group received their first Blackberry smartphones, Pitt “became a heavy e-mailer, especially in the middle of the night,” she said.
He took a lighter approach to SEC enforcement than his predecessor, telling Congress that he would “fix relationships that have been damaged in the past.” In the wake of Enron and other scandals, his attitude proved unsustainable.
A few weeks after the Enron bankruptcy, Rep. John Dingell wrote to Mr. Pitt, saying, “Your choice of words sends the wrong message to auditors, SEC staff and the general public.”
Morale within the agency plummeted during Mr. Pitt’s tenure, and many senior officials resigned.
His drop in height was summed up by a New York Times headline on the day his successor, William H. Donaldson, was confirmed in 2003: “SEC picks he’s not Harvey Pitt.” It has said”.
But friends and former colleagues said Mr. Pitt had been unfairly criticized. Former SEC general counsel David Becker said he spoke with Pitt on the phone when real estate developer Donald J. Trump called to complain that Trump’s firm was being investigated for fraud. I remembered that
“Mr. Harvey politely explained that he had added the very fraud allegations that President Trump had complained about to the department’s proposal and was not in a position to help,” Becker said.
Mr. Pitt’s first marriage to Phyllis Kay ended in divorce in 1981. He married Sally Ruffin in 1984. He is left with a wife. Two daughters, Emily Pitt and Sally Pitt-Prauden. Two sons, Jonathan and Rob. and three grandchildren.
In his first few years as SEC chairman, Mr. Pitt remained largely out of public view. He continued to ponder regulatory issues and occasionally contributed opinion pieces to the Wall Street Journal.
his Recent columns He provided insightful views on proposed new SEC rules on private investment funds.
“Regulatory demands often make it difficult or impossible for new entrants to gain momentum in the industry,” Pitt wrote. “Often, there is no voice at the table that represents the interests of that sector of the industry.”
