Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced
three appointments to the New York State Department of Financial
Services. These appointments follow the Governor’s recent nomination of Maria Vullo to serve as the Superintendent of DFS.
The Department of Financial Services is
charged with protecting consumers and markets in New York State from
fraud and financial crises, as well as reforming the regulation of
financial services to keep pace with dynamic changes within the
industry. DFS was created in 2011 by the merger of the state’s Banking
and Insurance Departments.
“These individuals bring with them practical
knowledge and experience that will greatly aid DFS in its role as a
regulator and help consumers, investors and markets in New York State,” Governor Cuomo said. “Their commitment to public service will be an asset to the talented team at DFS and I am proud to welcome them.”
Matthew L. Levine
has been appointed Executive Deputy Superintendent for Enforcement. In
this role he will guide the Department's enforcement actions to ensure
that regulated parties are held accountable for unlawful business
practices, coordinating with other senior staff and law enforcement
agencies under the direction of the Superintendent.
Mr. Levine is a former federal prosecutor
and trial lawyer with significant experience in matters involving the
financial markets and health care fraud. He has also represented clients
in private practice, most recently as the founding principal of his own
law firm in New York City. For nearly a decade, he served as an
Assistant U.S. Attorney, first in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
District of Columbia and later in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Eastern District of New York. There, he served as Acting Chief of the
Business & Securities Fraud Section and supervised a group of
federal prosecutors conducting major securities fraud and other
white-collar prosecutions. Before becoming a federal prosecutor, he
worked in private practice as a Litigation Associate at the New York
City office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where he
represented corporate and individual clients in civil and criminal
matters.
Mr. Levine clerked for the United States
District Judge Barefoot Sanders in Dallas, Texas. He earned his J.D. at
Columbia School of Law and a B.A. in Government at Lehigh University.
Richard A. Loconte has been appointed Executive Deputy Superintendent for Communications and Strategy at DFS. Mr.
Loconte brings with him more than 20 years of experience in
communications and public policy. Since 2008, he was the Deputy Head of
Government Affairs & Associate General Counsel at AIG, Inc. There,
he represented AIG before regulatory agencies and other government
bodies on legislative and regulatory issues related to the insurance
industry and the broader financial services sector, and was instrumental
in reestablishing the company's federal government affairs office in
Washington, DC.
From 2005 - 2008, he was the Deputy
Executive Director for the Association for a Better New York (ABNY),
where he oversaw the organization’s communications, administrative
functions, and legal matters. Prior to his time at ABNY, he was the
Director of Public Affairs at the Grand Central Partnership. Mr. Loconte
has also held roles at the New York City Department of Finance and the
New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. He earned his J.D. from
Brooklyn Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from Fordham
University.
Jennifer L. Smith
has been appointed Special Assistant to the Superintendent at DFS. Most
recently, Ms. Smith was an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher
& Flom LLP, where she worked with former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye
on various commercial and appellate matters. While at Skadden, she also
served as Assistant Counsel to the Commission on Judicial Nomination and
has handled multiple pro bono matters, including representation of
domestic violence victims and representation of a client seeking
executive clemency through the Department of Justice’s 2014 Clemency
Project.
Prior to her time at Skadden, she was a
Trial Attorney for Bolan Jahnsen Dacey, and Greenberg Traurig, where she
litigated civil matters. She also developed a program with Sanctuary
for Families to provide legal services to homeless and battered women
and their children at the New York City Department of Homeless Services
Prevention Assistance & Temporary Housing (PATH).
Ms. Smith earned her J.D. at Benjamin N.
Cardozo School of Law, an M.A. in Organization and Leadership from
Columbia University, Teachers College, and a B.A. in English and
Anthropology & Sociology from Lafayette College. She received the
Empire State Counsel Award from the New York State Bar Association in
2013 and 2014.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
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