SECURITIES

Prudential Names Interim General Counsel: Prudential Securities Inc. appointed Lee B. Spencer Jr., 50, a onetime Securities and Exchange Commission official, as its temporary general counsel. He is expected to serve for several months while the brokerage searches for a permanent successor for Loren Schechter, who was forced to give up the post last week as a result of federal investigations into his role in the brokerage’s mammoth limited partnership scandal. Schechter has denied any wrongdoing. Spencer is a partner in the New York office of the Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.