[G]ov. Peter Shumlin has tapped Michael Pieciak to serve as the state’s chief financial regulator.
Pieciak, 33, replaces Susan Donegan who stepped down June 30. He has served as deputy commissioner from January 2014 to the present and led the securities division for the department.
In that role, Pieciak led an investigation into the Jay Peak EB-5 projects. He worked with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the probe, which ultimately resulted in charges of fraud against the Jay Peak developers, Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger. The SEC has accused the two men of misusing $200 million in EB-5 immigrant investor funds.
The state filed a separate lawsuit against the developers, charging them with 15 counts of securities violations.
In the spring, Pieciak testified in U.S. Federal District Court in Miami. He detailed how Quiros and Stenger moved money from a People’s United Bank account in which investor funds were to be held in escrow, to accounts at Raymond James Associates, a financial services firm, in Coral Gables, Florida. Pieciak alleged that Quiros used margin loans to leverage investor funds and more than 100 bank accounts to obscure how money was taken from investors. Quiros is accused of stealing more than $50 million directly from the projects.
“Susan Donegan left big shoes to fill, but I cannot think of someone who is more prepared to lead DFR at this critical time than Mike,” Shumlin said. “Mike’s intimate knowledge of the Jay Peak EB-5 investigation undertaken by the state is crucial as the case continues to work its way through the legal process. In addition to his good work on that front, Mike is a proven leader who will serve the department well over these next few months.”
As commissioner, Pieciak will be in charge of four divisions — banking, insurance, securities and captive insurance.
Pieciak grew up in Brattleboro and now lives in Winooski. He graduated from Union College with a political science degree and obtained his juris doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law. Pieciak has practiced business law at Downs Rachlin Martin in Burlington and served in the mergers and acquisitions group Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City.
He has served in various offices for Vermont politicians. He was an executive page for Gov. Howard Dean, an intern for Sen. Patrick Leahy and the campaign manager for Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell.
The appointment comes at the last six months of Shumlin’s last term in office. In January, a newly elected governor will decide whether to select new administrators for departments and agencies of state government or retain current commissioners and secretaries.
The potential short-term stint doesn’t deter Pieciak.
“It was an honor to be picked, and I’m glad they picked someone in the DFR family,” Pieciak said. “It was reaffirming of the work of the securities division — not just in the Jay Peak case but in others as well.”
Pieciak said over the next six months he plans to address elder financial fraud, which he says has become more of a problem in Vermont as the baby-boom generation ages.
Pieciak is on the Vermont State Colleges board of trustees. He is an observer member of the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies, chairman of the North American Securities Administrators Association Corporate Finance Section Committee and serves on the association’s federal and state legislative committee.
