SEC Enforcement Director Margaret Ryan Discusses Enforcement Priorities in First Public Remarks

Remarks to the Los Angeles County Bar Association

And, as Chairman Atkins recently noted, the Commission also receives the submissions and is expected to read them – and I am convinced that they do. A compelling Wells submission can and may make a difference both at the enforcement recommendation stage and when the Commission is determining how to vote on an enforcement recommendation.

But this process only works if both sides engage fairly and in good faith.
I thus emphasize one final point with respect to process. As I’ve described, I believe the Division’s process is both transparent and fair. But I would advise those in the defense bar not to mistake fairness for weakness.

Recognize that the staff is seeking to move expeditiously, and to reach conclusions and make recommendations within reasonable time periods to uphold our obligations as public servants. At the same time, we are committed to professional courtesy, consideration, and – where we can – flexibility. Deliberate circumvention of the process, however, including tactical tardiness and other games, will not be tolerated. Make no mistake, counsels’ incentives, financial or otherwise, to prolong an investigation (and then complain about how long the investigation took) will be met by steadfast commitment to reasonable and timely resolution.

I will hold my staff, and you, to that standard.

SEC’s Paul Atkins grilled on crypto enforcement pull-back, including with Justin Sun, Tron

The top Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee demanded the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission explain during a Wednesday hearing what happened with the agency’s enforcement interest in Tron Foundation founder Justin Sun and whether his ties to President Donald Trump have had an influence.

Representative Maxine Waters highlighted the U.S. securities regulators’ abandonment of almost all of its previous crypto enforcement cases when Trump took over the White House and replaced the agency’s leadership last year. She underlined the case against Sun in which the agency investigated Sun and his company on wide-ranging allegations, including that they’d improperly jacked up the price of their token (TRX).

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins told the committee that he couldn’t discuss individual cases, but he expressed his willingness to have further conversations in a confidential briefing “to the extent the rules allow me to do that.”

SEC Denies All Whistleblower Awards in First Quarter of 2026

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied all 24 whistleblower award claims in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. This marks only the second time since 2016 that the SEC’s whistleblower program did not grant an award in the first three months of the fiscal year.

The denial streak follows fiscal year 2025, which saw the lowest annual award total since 2017. Even during this downturn, the SEC awarded over $15.8 million in the first quarter of FY2025. In FY2017, previously considered a remarkably stringent period for whistleblower awards, the SEC still granted over $4.4 million in awards in the first three months. SEC whistleblower advocates are concerned that this trend signals an unprecedented level of governmental reluctance to provide monetary awards to whistleblowers.

The three-month period without whistleblower awards, immediately following a year in which award totals reached their lowest level since 2017, has raised questions about the program’s future effectiveness. Legal experts and whistleblower advocates say monetary incentives are critical to encouraging individuals to report wrongdoing. Reduced awards could result in fewer tips, thereby reducing the agency’s ability to detect and address misconduct and corruption, they warn.

Banco Master Suspect Threw Cash From Window as Police Arrived – Bloomberg

Brazilian police were executing a warrant in their probe of troubled Banco Master SA on Wednesday when someone suddenly tossed a suitcase packed with more than 400,000 reais ($77,120) out of a 30th-floor apartment.

The scene unfolded in Balneario Camboriu, a hub of beachfront high-rises in the southern state of Santa Catarina, and marked the latest twist in the case of Banco Master, which was liquidated by the central bank in November and is facing accusations of fraud.

Federal Police officers were carrying out the latest phase of a probe into Rioprevidencia, a civil servant pension fund that invested nearly 1 billion reais into Master and has faced investigations over allegedly irregular financial operations. But as soon as they arrived, one of the occupants threw the cash out of a window, police said in a statement.

Kalshi built a team to crack down on insider trading, while its CEO struggles to define it on live TV

John Auerbach, a managing director at the investigations firm Nardello & Co., said prediction market operators shouldn’t only be concerned about law enforcement peering over their shoulder. He said “it’s not good business” to have a reputation as a place where insiders profit at the expense of other users.
Auerbach said US-based prediction markets are coming to terms with a simple reality: “You need to upgrade your controls.”

Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at the Securities Enforcement Forum on Thursday that he expects there to be prosecutions related to prediction markets, though he didn’t say when.

He compared it to point-shaving in basketball, which formed the basis for criminal charges that the Justice Department unveiled last month. “That’s a crime,” he said. “Because it’s a prediction market doesn’t insulate you from fraud.”

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Clayton’s office closed an investigation last July into whether Polymarket had knowingly dealt with US traders, despite having committed in a 2022 deal with the CFTC to not serving them.