The outgoing chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission - he steps down this month - recently conducted his final town hall investor meeting in Philadelphia, where he warned the 500 citizens in attendance to beware of shady Wall Street brokerage practices. Sermon delivered, the regulator then proceeded to loosen up. On the 9:00 p.m. Amtrak train back to Washington, Levitt and a handful of senior SEC officials commandeered the club car and broke out bottles of champagne. “We brought our own,” notes one member of the party, explaining that high-quality hooch is not available on Amtrak. He adds, “No one seemed to mind.” Senior staff and close aides are planning a more formal föte for Levitt, who leaves as the longest-serving SEC chairman in history. Nothing too fancy, though. Says the SEC official, “Arthur didn’t want a big party.”
