Luke Ritchie and Tobin Kern are very pleased to announce that Kurt L. Gottschall, the SEC's recently named Director of the Denver Regional Office, has graciously accepted our invitation to speak to the CBA's Securities Subsection. The Q&A-styled presentation, which will be moderated by Luke Ritchie, is geared towards transactional, compliance, and enforcement defense practitioners and will cover Regional Director Gottschall's views on the priorities and focus of both OCIE and the Division of Enforcement. The informal discussion will also highlight recent developments in the law and their potential impacts on the SEC and the Securities Subsection's members' practices. Do not miss this opportunity to hear straight from Director Gottschall on the direction he sees the DRO heading under his leadership.
Speaker:
Kurt Gottschall began working as a staff attorney in the Denver office's Division of Enforcement in 2000, before becoming a Branch Chief in 2003, and an Assistant Regional Director in 2010. From 2012 to 2016, he was a supervisor in the Asset Management Unit, which focuses on misconduct by investment advisers and investment companies. In 2016, he was named Associate Regional Director for enforcement in the Denver Office. In November of 2018, he was named Director of the Denver Regional Office, where he leads a staff of more than 100 enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators, and compliance examiners involved in the investigation and prosecution of enforcement actions and the performance of compliance inspections in the Denver region. During his career with the SEC, Mr. Gottschall has investigated or supervised dozens of enforcement matters involving a
variety of securities law violations, including charges against:
- A Boulder, Colorado-based biopharmaceutical company, its CEO, and its former CFO for misleading investors about the company's developmental lung cancer drug
- The Dow Chemical Company for inadequate perquisite disclosures
- A Maryland-based biotech company and four former top executives for prioritizing revenue growth over lawful accounting and misleading investors in the process
- SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. and its former CEO and vice president of communications for misleading investors about the impact the documentary film Blackfish had on the company's reputation and business
- A Salt Lake City-based brokerage firm for allegedly failing to file required SARs and omitting material red flags or other suspicious information from thousands of its SAR filings.
Before joining the SEC staff, Mr. Gottschall worked as a litigation associate at Sherman & Howard L.L.C. in Denver and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton L.L.P. in Los Angeles. Mr. Gottschall earned his law degree with honors from the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in 1995, and his bachelor's degree in economics and government with honors from Claremont McKenna College in 1992.
Moderator:
Luke Ritchie focuses his litigation and trial practice on representing financial services clients and other companies and individuals in regulatory investigations and complex commercial litigation. His experience includes prosecuting and defending claims involving violations of federal and state securities laws, corporate governance, business “divorce”, and business torts and fraud. Mr. Ritchie has represented businesses, investment companies, boards of directors, and individuals before federal and state courts, in arbitration proceedings, and before federal, state, and private regulatory authorities including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the Colorado Department of Law. Mr. Ritchie is currently serving his second term as Co-Chair of the CBA's Securities Law Subsection, first term as Vice-Chair
of the CBA's Litigation Section, first term as member of the CBA's Board of Governors, and he sits on the Executive Council of the CBA's Business Law Section.