Senators Seek Information from SEC About Resignation of Ex-Enforcement Director

Senators Query SEC on Crypto After Enforcement Head Quits

Two US Senators want Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins to explain the sudden resignation of its enforcement director and whether her departure was related to cryptocurrency cases, including one touching on the Trump family’s ventures.

Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, sent a letter Monday seeking records related to the SEC’s cases against cryptocurrency companies and communications with top agency officials and ex-enforcement director Margaret “Meg” Ryan. Ryan quit on March 16 after slightly more than six months on the job.

“Ms. Ryan’s abrupt departure from the agency raises questions in light of her short tenure and reports that senior leadership intervened to prohibit the Division of Enforcement from pursuing cases against certain cryptocurrency companies,” he wrote, citing reporting from Reuters.

Delaware judge accused of bias reassigns Musk cases

The chief judge on Delaware’s corporate court said she will reassign three cases involving Elon Musk to avoid unnecessary media attention after the billionaire entrepreneur complained that her activity on social media had shown bias against him.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery said she was reassigning three cases against Musk and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab board members that are potentially worth billions of dollars after the defendants said she supported a post on LinkedIn celebrating a jury verdict against Musk in an unrelated securities fraud case.

“As should be obvious, disproportionate media attention surrounding a judge’s handling of an action is detrimental to the administration of justice,” McCormick wrote in her letter to the legal teams in the three cases, adding she was not biased against the defendants. She also said the motion for her recusal was based on the false premise that she was supportive of the LinkedIn post.

Insider-Trading Scheme Born of Romance Snags Another Broker

A second former Spartan Capital Securities broker was accused of making hundreds of thousands of dollars on insider trades from tips linked to a man who stole confidential corporate deal information from his girlfriend’s laptop while they were working at home during the pandemic.

Ronald Smith was charged with securities fraud and other crimes stemming from the alleged scheme, federal prosecutors in New York said in a statement announcing the unsealing of an indictment. Smith, who faces as much as 25 years in prison if convicted, turned himself in Monday and was released on a $1 million bond.

Smith, 37, of Stamford, Connecticut, allegedly received the tips from Jordan Meadow, another former Spartan Capital broker who pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy in November and is scheduled to be sentenced in May. Meadow obtained confidential information from a friend and then passed it along to Smith, prosecutors said.

From Foe to Ally: The S.E.C. Is Now Writing Crypto-Friendly Policies

In recent months, Mr. Atkins and Mike Selig, 36, his counterpart at the C.F.T.C., have appeared at a succession of crypto industry events, from Wyoming to New York to Washington to President Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club, with at least two more stops scheduled this year in Miami and Las Vegas. They have echoed the industry’s talking points, pledged to work together to support its growth and proposed policies that the industry favors.

The apparent coziness has raised eyebrows in Washington, where consumer protection advocates have questioned the optics of U.S. regulators rubbing shoulders with crypto industry leaders.

Top financial regulators are “prioritizing the crypto industry’s interests above literally everything,” said Dennis Kelleher, who runs Better Markets, a financial reform group. “The signal to the industry is whatever you want, you’re going to get.”

SEC Staff Cuts Risk Undermining Agency Mission, GAO Report Finds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission saw a potentially damaging 18% drop in enforcement staff during fiscal year 2025—which matched an SEC-wide 18% decline in personnel, a federal auditing agency reported March 27.

“The workforce changes SEC made in 2025 were significant and could pose risks to the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission,” the Government Accountability Office stated. […]

The release of the GAO report followed Atkins’ comments to a Senate panel last month that the agency has “gaps” across different SEC divisions but that “I think we have a very good group of people in enforcement.”

The law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison recently reported that the decrease in SEC’s enforcement staff in fiscal year 2025, which ended Sept. 30, was coupled with a steep drop-off in enforcement actions. The SEC’s 313 enforcement actions in fiscal year 2025 were the fewest in a decade and down 27% from fiscal year 2024, according to the firm.

Cornerstone Research reported that the commission collected just $808 million in penalties in 2025, the lowest of any fiscal year since 2012 and the second lowest since 2010. The regulatory consulting group also found that accounting and auditing enforcement actions in fiscal year 2025 fell to a nine-year low.