Senator Elizabeth Warren has accused Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins of potentially misleading Congress about the agency’s enforcement activity. In a letter dated April 15, Warren pointed to the SEC’s fiscal 2025 enforcement data, released April 7, as the basis for her concerns.
Warren said that during a Feb. 12 congressional hearing she asked Atkins to address publicly available data showing a drop in enforcement, and that he replied he was “not sure what data” she was referring to. The recently released figures, she wrote, show the number of enforcement actions initiated by the SEC is lower than at any point in the last decade and that overall enforcement activity has fallen to its lowest level in more than 20 years.
Describing the results as “deeply disturbing,” Warren said the numbers indicate the Commission has “largely abdicated its enforcement responsibilities.” Because the hearing took place more than four months after the close of the 2025 fiscal year, she wrote, Atkins’ claim of uncertainty “now appear deeply misleading, potentially designed to cast doubt on the now obvious fact that enforcement activity has declined significantly at the Commission under your watch.” She asked whether Atkins was aware of the SEC’s enforcement levels at the time of his testimony and requested an explanation for the decline.
Warren asked for a response by April 28. The SEC has faced criticism for scaling back enforcement against cryptocurrency firms, with some cases initiated under the prior administration later settled or dismissed — a pattern that has attracted scrutiny from lawmakers. The SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Warren’s letter.