PANews reported on April 28 that according to Fortune magazine, the newly appointed SEC Chairman Paul Atkins was sworn in last week. Experts say that the SEC's rule-making agenda may undergo a major change, but Atkins takes a tough stance on enforcement. Three former SEC Chief Counsels believe that the enforcement focus may change after his appointment, but will not completely deviate.
Melissa Hodgman, a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP and a former senior SEC enforcement official, predicted that the SEC under Atkins will not relax enforcement, with a focus on fraud (including accounting and information disclosure fraud) and insider trading. Regulatory agencies can efficiently track insider trading through social media and AI, and the enforcement team will closely monitor this. Former Chief Counsel Robert Stebbins said that enforcement will return to the focus during Jay Clayton's term, focusing on the "mass market" or retail investors, and will not enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Dan Berkovitz and Megan Barbaro, Chief Counsels during Gary Gensler's tenure, both stated that the SEC will focus more on cases that actually harm investors, reduce corporate fines, reduce procedural violation enforcement, and focus on fraud. The former chairman Gary Gensler was widely criticized for his rule-making agenda. The three former chief lawyers predict that Atkins will address the challenges of cryptocurrency regulation while potentially expanding private market access and raising the threshold for qualified investors.
