Joel R. Levin will join the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office next month

Former Acting U.S. Attorney Joel R. Levin has been named the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Chicago, federal officials announced Thursday.

Levin, who has served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois since 2014, will join the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office next month, according to a statement from the commission.

As head of the Chicago office, Levin will oversee a staff of about 270 enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators and securities compliance examiners with jurisdiction in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to the SEC.

“Joel has spent years conducting or supervising investigations of complex securities frauds, financial crimes, and other white collar matters,” Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in the statement. “His experience at the helm of one of the busiest U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the country makes him an excellent choice to lead our Chicago office. We are very fortunate to have him join our team.”

Levin served as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from March to November of 2017, when John Raymond Lausch Jr. was sworn in as Chicago’s top federal prosecutor to replace Zachary Fardon.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked Fardon to resign in March.