The Securities and Exchange Commission appointed a former Department of Justice prosecutor, George S. Canellos, as regional director of the agency’s New York Regional office, where he will oversee enforcement and examination operations, the regulator announced yesterday. He will join the SEC in July.

From 1994 to 2002, Canellos was a criminal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. In his role with the DOJ, Canellos was chief of the major crimes unit, where he supervised teams of prosecutors responsible for investigating and prosecuting large-scale crimes in the financial sector, such as bank, insurance and tax fraud, as well as foreign corrupt practices, money laundering, and other cases involving investment fraud. Canellos also served as senior trial counsel of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, and was responsible for prosecuting cases involving investment advisory fraud, among other crimes, according to the SEC.  

Currently, Canellos is a partner in the litigation group at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, where he focuses on civil and criminal enforcement of securities and banking laws. He has worked at the New York-based law firm since 2003.