SEC enforcement appears down
Recent data suggest the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing fewer Wall Street enforcement actions than before, a shift reported in Mother Jones earlier this week. The reporting notes a steep drop in visible enforcement activity under the current administration, a pattern flagged as part of broader regulatory behaviour changes. (motherjones.com)
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed 456 enforcement actions in fiscal year 2025, down from 583 a year earlier as the agency said it was “recentered” on fraud cases. (sec.gov) The April 7 report covered the year that ended on September 30, 2025 and counted 303 stand-alone cases, 69 follow-on administrative proceedings, and 84 delinquent-filer actions. The agency said it won orders for $17.9 billion in monetary relief. (sec.gov) Paul Atkins was sworn in as chairman on April 21, 2025, after President Donald Trump nominated him on January 20 and the Senate confirmed him on April 9. In the 2026 report, the commission said earlier leadership had chased “media headlines” and case volume instead of investor protection. (sec.gov, sec.gov) The shift is not just about totals. Enforcement Director Margaret Ryan said in a February 11 speech that reporting, recordkeeping, internal-controls, and broker-dealer or investment-adviser compliance failures should not automatically lead to enforcement actions when fraud is absent. (dlapiper.com) That approach moves the agency away from the prior commission’s use of broad sweeps against off-channel communications and crypto registration cases. The commission said the earlier SEC brought 95 book-and-records cases since fiscal 2022 and seven crypto registration-related cases that the current leadership says showed no direct investor harm. (sec.gov) The crypto retreat has shown up in court filings. The SEC dismissed its civil case against Coinbase in February 2025 and dropped its Binance case in May 2025, while Justin Sun reached a $10 million settlement in March 2026 after the parties had paused that case in February 2025. (sec.gov, sec.gov, reuters.com) Critics say the slowdown reaches beyond crypto. Senator Jack Reed said on March 18 that Securities and Exchange Commission staffing had fallen 17 percent since Trump took office, with enforcement spending cut roughly in half, monetary penalties down 45 percent, and disgorgement down 98 percent according to private analyses he cited. (reed.senate.gov) The commission argues the lower count does not capture the full workload. Its report says staff investigated 1,095 matters that were closed in fiscal 2025 and says fraud cases often take two years or more to develop, so the results of the new strategy may not show up quickly. (sec.gov) For now, the clearest number is still the first one: 456 cases in fiscal 2025 versus 583 in fiscal 2024, with the agency openly saying it wants fewer actions and a narrower target list. (sec.gov, sec.gov)
