House Financial Services Subcommittee Hears Testimony from SEC Enforcement Director

In July, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets heard testimony from Gurbir Grewal, the Director for the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. The hearing focused mainly on ESG and crypto enforcement actions. While Grewal would not comment on the SEC’s proposed rules on ESG, he did note the Division of Enforcement was bringing actions against funds for greenwashing through already accessible anti-fraud provisions in the securities law. He noted that the SEC was retaining experts in the area of ESG for many of these investigations. Regarding cryptocurrency enforcement investigations, he noted the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit “has brought more than 80 enforcement actions related to fraudulent and unregistered crypto asset offerings and platforms, resulting in monetary relief totaling more than $2 billion” and that the SEC plans to continue its work in this area as well as focusing on “lending and staking products; decentralized finance (“DeFi”) platforms; non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”); and stablecoins.” Other topics of note from the hearing include, insider trading, meme stocks, whistleblower protections, and Reg BI, among other topics.

Click here to read Director Grewal’s written testimony.