Eric T. Schneiderman
| Eric T. Schneiderman | |
| |
| Occupation | New York State Attorney General |
|---|---|
| Location | Albany, New York |
Eric T. Schneiderman is the 65th attorney general of New York State. He was elected on November 2, 2010. As attorney general, he is the highest ranking law enforcement officer for the state, responsible for representing New York and its residents in legal matters.[1]
In 2014, Schneiderman spearheaded an effort to crack down on high frequency traders and began looking into services that allowed fast traders to profit on important information before other investors see it. He urged regulators and stock exchanges to curb some of these practices, which he said helped foster what he called “insider trading 2.0.”
His office appeared to achieve several victories when the news services Thomson Reuters, BusinessWire and MarketWired agreed to end the practice of selling their information feeds directly to high-frequency traders, which gave them a split-second advantage over other investors. (Marketwired said it had made the decision to end these sales “prior to any discussions with the New York attorney general.”)[2]
He also examined the exchanges' practice of permitting high-frequency traders to pay to "co-locate" their computer servers within the exchanges’ data centers, thereby cutting milliseconds off the time it takes them to receive market information; additionally he looked at other services provided by exchanges to high-frequency traders, including extra network bandwidth, special switches and fast connection cables. He said those services gave the traders a “leg up on the rest of the market.”[3] As part of the investigation into high speed trading, his office sent "exploratory" subpoenas to several dark pools, including Tower Research Capital LLC, Chopper Trading LLC and Jump Trading LLC, in April 2014.[4]
In June 2014 he sued Barclays Bank alleging Barclays executives lied to customers about the level of protection they would receive in the bank's dark pool from high-frequency traders aiming to profit from their speed advantage.[5]
Other areas of finance in which he has taken a leading role include an investigation of misconduct in the mortgage market, including cracking down on some banks for failing to comply with foreclosure rules, and the launch of a "Taxpayer Protection Bureau" to root out fraud and return money illegally stolen from New York taxpayers.
Background[edit]
Schneiderman previously spent 15 years in private practice as an attorney, and later as a partner, at the firm of Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, where he handled complex litigation. He was also a public interest lawyer for many years.
Education[edit]
Schneiderman graduated from Amherst College in 1977 and Harvard Law School in 1982.
References[edit]
- ↑ About the Attorney General. Office of the New York State Attorney General.
- ↑ News Release Distributor to Stop Selling to High-Speed Traders. The New York Times.
- ↑ Inquiry Into High-Speed Trading Widens. New York Times Dealbook.
- ↑ New York prosecutor probes high-speed trading -source. Reuters.
- ↑ Banks start to drain Barclays dark pool. The Financial Times.