LAW: New Head of SEC In L.A. Will Take A Civil Approach
Amanda Bronstad
Randall Lee is reluctant to divulge what to expect in his new role as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Pacific region. For one thing, he hasn’t even started the job yet.
But speaking as deputy chief of the major frauds section of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, where he’s been for the past seven years, Lee anticipates working on many of the same types of white-collar cases, such as bank and securities fraud.
With one notable difference: His new job will take on violators in civil rather than criminal cases.
“You have to prove your case beyond a reasonable doubt in all criminal cases,” Lee said. “In a civil case, the burden of proof is a preponderance of the evidence.”
Still, a number of the cases will overlap with the U.S. Attorney’s office, which has increasingly worked hand-in-hand with the SEC in the past few years on white-collar cases, Lee said. In addition, he acknowledged a rapidly rising number of private shareholder suits in the past year that have brought white-collar crimes in the public eye.
As one of SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt’s first appointments, Lee will oversee a nine-state region and two offices of attorneys and staff devoted to enforcement and inspection of SEC regulations. He will start work there in mid-December.
Rough Waters
A legal storm brewing over the rights to the name of deep-sea explorer Jacques Cousteau has hit the West Coast.
Cousteau Society Inc., a 28-year-old nonprofit created by Cousteau who died in 1997, sued another nonprofit for trademark infringement Nov. 14 in federal court in Los Angeles. The Cousteau Society, which is based in Virginia, claims the one-year-old Philippe Cousteau Foundation Inc. is causing confusion by using the Cousteau name.
The Philippe Cousteau Foundation is registered in Toluca Lake.
For instance, at a diving trade show earlier this year in New Orleans, many attendees and event organizers did not realize both organizations were not related to one another, according to The Cousteau Society’s lawsuit. Also, the foundation, named for Cousteau’s now-deceased son, has confused contributors and supporters by registering for Web sites like “cousteaufoundation.org” and putting The Cousteau Society’s “Manfish” logo on its letterhead, the suit claims.
The lawsuit was filed a week after the Philippe Cousteau Foundation filed a similar trademark lawsuit against the 150,000-member Cousteau Society in federal court in Florida.
The Philippe Cousteau Foundation is run by Philippe Cousteau’s widow and their two children, Alexandra and Philippe. In the Florida lawsuit, the foundation claims The Cousteau Society has “departed from the original vision and mission of Jacques-Yves Cousteau” since Cousteau’s second wife, Francine Triplet, took over the organization after his death.
Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 225 or at
[email protected]
