John P. “Sean” Coffey, a former securities litigation partner at plaintiffs’ law firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann now seeking election as New York’s next Attorney General, said this week that his motivation is to clean up state government. He said he also plans to be vigilant with Wall Street, and to focus on the “gatekeepers” in the securities world such as as auditors, bankers, directors, lawyers and credit-rating companies.
According to Bloomberg, Coffey said that “[w]here a company does something bad, I believe we need to look more seriously at making individuals pay. It’s valuable to hold people accountable when appropriate. I did that in WorldCom.”
Referring to his success on behalf of investors while in private practice, Coffey stated that “I’m probably the only candidate running who doesn’t need to beat up Wall Street to prove he can beat up Wall Street.”
