Bloomberg: SEC Has Brought 28% Fewer Litigated Enforcement Actions Through September

SEC Zeroes in on Insider Trading and Offering Fraud Under Atkins

The SEC brought at least 91 new enforcement suits from Inauguration Day through the end of September, down from 126 actions filed during the same period in 2024, according to Bloomberg Law’s review of agency litigation releases and filings.

The overall drop comes as Atkins’ enforcers focus more on individual offenders than household name companies.

“The types of entities that have been under scrutiny in the Atkins administration have been SEC registrants, registered investment advisers, and broker-dealers,” said Haima Marlier, a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP and former senior trial counsel at the SEC.

Nearly 33% of enforcement actions brought under this administration so far have focused on offering fraud or insider trading, up from 26% during the same period last year. “People perceive the Gensler administration as having gone into a lot of areas that were not real fraud, like the off-channel communications cases that were a huge dollar generator,”

Peavler said, referring to a crackdown on Wall Street’s use of unofficial communications tools such as WhatsApp.

“If you look back at the cases brought over this fiscal year, there are cases that involve digital assets, but they also involve that bread-and-butter fraud, which often leads to the agency not needing to make a determination as to whether the asset itself is a security,” Marlier said.

It’s Time for the Crypto Industry to Take the Threat of AI and Quantum Computing Seriously

If an AI system were to ever successfully attack or otherwise disrupt the cryptography of a respected blockchain – even in a white hat research setting – every panic sell-off crypto has seen before that moment would feel small. If a quantum computer ever broke a blockchain, we might as well all close down shop. The point of blockchains would be permanently undermined.

The good news is that there is a well-defined technical roadmap to avoid this. Some, not enough, but some protocols are already implementing it. But why are many falling short?

This is a real and looming threat that the crypto industry is ignoring at its own peril. To secure the future of decentralized technology, crypto must urgently upgrade its infrastructure to handle and proactively partner with the industries that pose the greatest risk: AI and quantum computing.

US Subpoenas Builder.ai’s Ex-CFO for Auditor Communications

US investigators are advancing a criminal probe into Builder. ai, demanding a former executive’s communications with the firm’s UK auditor and with others involved in the financial reporting for the artificial intelligence startup ahead of its June bankruptcy.

Federal Bureau of Investigation officers served former Builder. ai Chief Financial Officer Andres Elizondo at a Dallas area airport in August with a subpoena, said people familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Prosecutors sought information related to alleged violations of laws relating to wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy, according to the subpoena reviewed by Bloomberg, without naming the exact target of the probe. The US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan has been looking into Builder. ai’s financial practices and previously demanded the company turn over documents, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Tesla Shareholders Should Reject Musk Pay Plan, ISS Advises

Tesla Inc. shareholders are being urged by proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services to vote against Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s $1 trillion compensation plan, adding a potential obstacle as the board works to rally investor support.

This marks the second year in a row that ISS urged shareholdersto vote against a pay package for Musk.

Musk oversees an overlapping empire of five companies: Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and the Boring Company.

“Although one of the main reasons for this award is to retain Musk and keep his time and attention on Tesla instead of his other business ventures, there are no explicit requirements to ensure that this will be the case,” ISS wrote in the report, which was part of broader voting guidance it issued Friday. The proxy firm cited “unmitigated concerns” with the plan’s magnitude and design.