According to Fortune magazine, Paul Atkins, the new chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was sworn in last week. Experts say that the SEC's rule making agenda may welcome major changes, but Atkins has a tough stance on enforcement. Three former SEC general counsel believe that their enforcement focus has changed since taking office, but it will not completely shift.
Melissa Hodgman, a partner at the law firm Fuerte and former senior enforcement officer at the SEC, predicts that under Atkins' leadership, SEC enforcement will not be lax, with fraud (including accounting and disclosure fraud) and insider trading being the focus. Regulatory agencies can efficiently track insider trading through social media and AI, and law enforcement teams will closely monitor it. Former General Counsel Robert Stebbins stated that enforcement will return to the focus of Jay Clayton's tenure, with a focus on the "mass market" or individual investors, and this time will not enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Both Dan Berkovitz and Gary Gensler's general counsel Megan Barbaro have stated that the SEC will focus more on cases that actually harm investors, reduce corporate fines, minimize procedural violations, and focus on fraud. Former chairman Gary Gensler has been widely criticized for his rule making agenda, and three former chief lawyers predict that Atkins will address the challenges of cryptocurrency regulation, while also expanding access to the private equity market and raising the threshold for qualified investors.
