Thomsen received her A.B. from
Smith College and her
J.D. degree from
Harvard Law School. Before joining the staff of the Commission, she was in private practice at the law firm of
Davis Polk & Wardwell in Washington, D.C., and New York, and also served as an Assistant
United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. In November 2004, Thomsen was identified by writers and editors of the
Wall Street Journal as one of fifty "Women to Watch".
Pequot Capital Management insider trading and firing of SEC investigator In 2008
H. David Kotz, SEC inspector general, recommended that a disciplinary action be commenced against Thomsen due to her role in an
insider trading investigation of prominent hedge fund
Pequot Capital Management. Kotz said he found there were 'serious questions' about the impartiality and fairness of the SEC's investigation of Pequot. A former SEC attorney who worked on the probe and was fired by the agency has alleged there was political interference in the probe by agency officials. At the time, the SEC refused to take any enforcement action against Pequot, and it closed the case in 2006. It reopened the case after new information came to light. The hedge fund, which has now closed, denied any wrongdoing.
Madoff fraud Leaders of the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) testified on February 4, 2009 before the
United States House Committee on Financial Services subcommittee including Linda Thomsen SEC enforcement director, acting
General Counsel Andy Vollmer,
Andrew Donohue, Erik Sirri, and Lori Richards and Stephen Luparello of the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The subject of the hearings was the question as to why the SEC had failed to act when
Harry Markopolos, a private fraud investigator from Boston, alerted the SEC detailing his persistent and unsuccessful efforts to get the SEC to investigate
Bernard L. Madoff, beginning in 1999. Vollmer claimed
executive privilege in declining to answer some questions. Subcommittee chairman
Paul Kanjorski asked Mr. Vollmer if he had obtained executive privilege from the U.S. attorney general. the SEC announced that Thomsen would resign from her position with no replacement identified and return to the private sector. The SEC announced
Vollmer "plans to leave the Commission and return to the private sector," 9 days after Thomsen resigned. On July 9
The Washington Post announced that Richards would resign to "take on new challenges." On April 13, 2009, the law firm,
Davis Polk & Wardwell announced that Thomsen was returning to the firm as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office along with former Assistant to President Bush and White House
Staff Secretary,
Raul F. Yanes. The pair were recruited to work on white collar defense and government investigations and enforcement and increase the firm's financial regulatory practice.
Second instance of insider information On November 30, 2009, Kotz released a semiannual report to
Congress which discussed an investigation into a Senior Officer of the SEC who provided inside information to a former official, but did not name the officer. The inspector general said that while "Ms. Thomsen's communication with Mr. Cutler did not violate the SEC's policy on external communications, she should have taken other steps 'to avoid an appearance of impropriety stemming from the relationship.'" ==Private life==