Peter H. Bresnan Named Acting District Administrator of SEC's Boston District Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2003-152

Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2003 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today named Peter H. Bresnan as the Acting District Administrator of its Boston District Office. Mr. Bresnan currently serves as the Deputy Chief Litigation Counsel in the Division of Enforcement at SEC Headquarters in Washington, where he shares responsibility for managing the Commission's nationwide litigation program. He will continue in that position and will split his time between Washington and Boston until a permanent District Administrator is appointed.

Mr. Bresnan, who joined the Commission in April 1995 as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel, has prosecuted a number of ground-breaking cases for the Commission, including its first litigated yield-burning case. He also spearheaded the Commission's first fraud case against an offshore hedge fund, Manhattan Investment Fund Ltd., and its manager Michael Berger, involving an alleged $393 million in investor losses. More recently, Mr. Bresnan was the Commission's lead trial counsel in the WorldCom case in which the Commission obtained the largest civil penalty ever levied for a violation of the federal securities laws. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Bresnan was a litigator at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. Mr. Bresnan, 48, earned his undergraduate degree in history from Kenyon College and his law degree from Fordham University Law School.

Stephen M. Cutler, the SEC's Director of Enforcement said, "I am very grateful that Peter has agreed to serve as Acting District Administrator in our Boston Office. He is a brilliant trial lawyer who has achieved superb results in several precedent-setting Commission cases. Together with a fine staff in the Boston Office, Peter will help to maintain the Office's effective presence in both the SEC's enforcement and examination programs in the New England area. I look forward to working with him in his new role during this interim period."

Mr. Bresnan said, "In the short time I've been in the SEC's Boston Office, one thing has become immediately clear: that the staff of the office is an extremely talented and dedicated group. They have brought and will continue to bring many significant and well-developed cases, and I look forward to helping them to continue to build upon the office's tradition of excellence."