The US Securities and Exchange Commission appointed David Woodcock as director of its Division of Enforcement as lawmakers press for answers about the exit of his predecessor.
In a Wednesday notice, the SEC said Woodcock will become the division’s director on May 4; Sam Waldon will remain acting director until then. Woodcock is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and chairs the firm’s Securities Enforcement Practice Group. He previously led the SEC’s Fort Worth office from 2011 to 2015.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the move aligns with efforts to “restore Congressional intent by prioritizing cases that provide meaningful investor protection and strengthen market integrity.” Woodcock said he intends to “execute the Chairman’s vision.”
Woodcock succeeds Margaret Ryan, who resigned in March. Her departure prompted questions from several US senators about whether she left because the SEC declined to pursue several crypto-related enforcement actions. Lawmakers have sought answers about whether Ryan “faced resistance” from SEC leadership over cases tied to President Donald Trump’s associates, including a February 2025 decision to pause a fraud case against Tron founder Justin Sun, which was reportedly linked to the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial platform.
Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to Atkins on March 30 that the SEC “[may have exercised] preferential treatment for financial partners of President Trump against the advice and warnings of senior staff when the agency declined to litigate credible fraud cases.”
Separately, the SEC released a report on its 2025 fiscal-year enforcement results, detailing seven registration-related crypto cases and six cases concerning broker-dealer definitions. The agency said it “identified no direct investor harm,” that the matters “produced no investor benefit or protection,” and characterized them as “a misinterpretation of the federal securities laws.” The findings underscore a shift in how the SEC has handled crypto enforcement since President Trump took office.
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