The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement chief, Stephen Cutler, is leaving the agency.

Cutler, 43, announced Thursday that he intends to leave the commission next month to return to the private sector. Since being named enforcement director in October 2001, Cutler has overseen the agency’s investigations of some of the largest financial reporting failures in history, including those at Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Qwest, Tyco and HealthSouth. These investigations led to enforcement actions against, among others, Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow, Scott Sullivan, John Rigas, Joseph Nacchio, Dennis Kozlowsi and Richard Scrushy.

During Cutler’s tenure, the commission also obtained judgments in enforcement actions totaling more than US$6 billion in penalties and disgorgement, more than US$4.5 billion of which is being returned to harmed investors. Among them were WorldCom’s US$750-million penalty (the largest against a public company in commission history) and the more recent US$300 million penalty against AOL-Time Warner. Of the 12 largest penalties in commission history, ten were obtained in cases brought under Cutler’s leadership.

His long list of actions includes leading the commission’s efforts against banks, insurance companies and other financial intermediaries for their roles in a number of public company financial reporting failures, such as the cases against Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and CIBC in connection with Enron’s collapse.

In a statement, Cutler praised the staff at the SEC. “I have had the very good fortune to work with an extraordinary group of colleagues during an historic period for the Commission and our capital markets. I am proud to have been a part of the agency’s efforts and considerable accomplishments in the enforcement arena.”

Prior to joining the commission as the Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement in January 1999, Cutler was a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Previously, he served as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles and as a law clerk to Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“Steve Cutler has been an outstanding leader of the commission’s enforcement program. America’s investors have been enormously well-served by Steve’s keen intellect, superb judgment and abiding sense of justice,” said SEC chairman William Donaldson. “He is what every prosecutor should be: tough but fair. We will miss Steve’s dedication, leadership and integrity as we continue our critical efforts to pursue and root out wrongdoing in our marketplace.”