SEC’s enforcement actions fall nearly 24% in 2026
- Key insight: Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said the agency’s enforcement program should be judged not by the number of actions filed, but by their effectiveness.
- Expert quote: “The new Democratic majority in Congress will closely scrutinize whether the Atkins SEC is protecting the American people — or working for scammers and Trump’s billionaire buddies on Wall Street.” —Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement actions fell nearly 24% in fiscal 2026, drawing criticism from lawmakers and financial reform advocates over the agency’s approach to investor protection.
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In its annual report, the agency said its enforcement division filed 348 actions, including 235 standalone actions and 113 “follow-on” administrative proceedings. Those proceedings sought to bar or suspend individuals from participating in certain securities market activities based on factors such as criminal convictions or injunctions.
The total was
In a statement, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the success of the agency’s enforcement program should be measured not by the number of actions filed, but by “how effectively it advances the SEC’s mission, protects investors, holds wrongdoers accountable, and strengthens confidence in our markets.”
“Enforcement actions and financial remedies are important measures of activity, but they are not the only or most telling measures,” he said. “Our responsibility is to apply the law fairly and consistently and ensure that our enforcement efforts advance the Commission’s mission. I commend the staff for their dedication to an effective, disciplined enforcement program that serves the investing public.”
The report also said the agency obtained orders for $1.095 billion in monetary relief and returned nearly $731 million to more than 250,000 harmed investors. The monetary relief total was down from the adjusted $2.7 billion reported in fiscal 2025, which excluded certain judgments and settlements that were satisfied through separate court proceedings.
The report drew criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who said the decline in enforcement actions would
“The new Democratic majority in Congress will closely scrutinize whether the Atkins SEC is protecting the American people — or working for scammers and Trump’s billionaire buddies on Wall Street,” she wrote in a statement Tuesday.
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Better Markets, a financial reform advocacy organization, also criticized the decline in enforcement actions and monetary relief, arguing that the figures reflect a retreat from investor protection.
Benjamin Schiffrin, director of securities policy at Better Markets, questioned how the agency plans to measure the effectiveness of its enforcement program.
“Chair Atkins says that ‘enforcement actions and financial remedies are important measures of activity, but they are not the only or most telling measures.’ Yet it is not clear by what metric he thinks SEC enforcement should be measured,” Schiffrin wrote in a statement.
The decline in enforcement actions follows
