NOMINEE FOR SEC LISTS HIS CLIENTS

Among Wall St. firms represented by Jay Clayton are Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank.

The Wall Street attorney chosen by President Trump to head the Securities and Exchange Commission has worked on many of the kinds of deals the agency regulates and represented some of the biggest financial firms.

A financial disclosure report Jay Clayton filed with the government reveals clients that pose potential conflicts of interest for the SEC job. They include Wall Street powerhouses Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and UBS. He may have to recuse himself from some cases to come before the agency.

Trump nominated Clayton, a partner in the prominent law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, to be chairman of the independent agency that oversees Wall Street and the financial markets. If confirmed by the Senate, Clayton’s responsibilities will include enforcing SEC rules written under the 2010 law that reshaped financial regulation after the 2008-09 financial crisis and Great Recession. Clayton also would participate in decisions on enforcement actions that SEC attorneys bring against financial firms and corporations.

Clayton has vast legal experience in corporate mergers and public stock launches, as well as representing big financial firms and other corporations.

Some of his biggest cases came in the panicky days of 2008: Clayton represented Goldman in billionaire Warren Buffett’s $5-billion investment in the bank, and the teetering Bear Stearns in its rescue sale to JPMorgan Chase. He worked on many deals bringing companies public, including the U.S. stock market debut of Alibaba — the biggest IPO ever.

Clayton’s financial disclosure filing shows other big corporate clients including Ally Financial and Valeant Pharmaceuticals, a Canadian drugmaker that is the target of at least 10 government investigations.