The US Securities and Exchange Commission has named David Woodcock director of its Division of Enforcement, a move announced Wednesday that comes as lawmakers press the agency for answers about the departure of his predecessor. Woodcock will assume the role on May 4; Sam Waldon will continue as acting director until then.
Woodcock is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and chairs the firm’s Securities Enforcement Practice Group. He previously served as head of the SEC’s Fort Worth office from 2011 to 2015. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the appointment is consistent with efforts to realign enforcement priorities toward cases that provide meaningful investor protection and strengthen market integrity, and Woodcock said he plans to carry out the chair’s agenda.
Woodcock succeeds Margaret Ryan, who resigned in March. Her exit prompted questions from several senators about whether she left after the SEC chose not to pursue a number of crypto-related enforcement actions. Lawmakers have asked whether Ryan encountered resistance from agency leadership on cases involving associates of President Donald Trump, including a February 2025 decision to pause a fraud case against Tron founder Justin Sun — a matter that has been linked in reporting to the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial platform.
Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to Chair Atkins on March 30 suggesting the SEC may have shown preferential treatment to financial partners of President Trump, despite warnings from senior staff, when it declined to litigate what some viewed as credible fraud cases.
Separately, the SEC published a report on its 2025 fiscal-year enforcement activity. The agency said it brought seven registration-related crypto cases and six matters involving the broker-dealer definition, and concluded those particular matters produced no direct investor harm or benefit, describing them as stemming from a misinterpretation of federal securities laws. The report and recent developments highlight a notable change in the SEC’s approach to crypto enforcement since President Trump took office.
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