SEC Enforcement Hits 20-Year Low as Chair Paul Atkins Faces Allegations of Misleading Congress

The SEC brought 456 new enforcement actions in 2025, the smallest number of actions in two decades. Of those cases, 200 were filed by the outgoing Biden administration, leaving 256 cases brought by the Trump administration. The annual average over the last decade is 765 enforcement actions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, accused SEC Chair Paul Atkins of potentially lying to Congress in a letter sent this week. Warren pointed to a February 12 hearing where Atkins disagreed with the premise that enforcement activity had declined and stated he was unsure what data the senator was referencing.

Atkins has attributed the decrease in enforcement to a reversal of the Biden-era SEC's pursuit of crypto companies. However, enforcement rates have also declined in traditional securities markets. Warren's letter cited a Reuters report stating the SEC's head of enforcement resigned last month due to frustrations over the agency's handling of fraud cases involving President Trump's inner circle, cases Atkins personally resisted pursuing. Making a materially false statement to a congressional committee is punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison.