Lawmakers Question Missing SEC Texts From Gary Gensler Era

On September 30, Representative French Hill, head of the House Financial Services Committee, informed current SEC Chair Paul Atkins of the inquiry.

Hill pointed to a recent report by the agency’s internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which raised concerns about how the SEC handled internal communication and records during Gensler's tenure from 2021 to 2025.

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Hill stated that the committee is in contact with the OIG to better understand the report’s findings and to identify areas that may need further review.

The letter, also signed by committee members Ann Wagner, Dan Meuser, and Bryan Steil, highlights concerns over record-keeping standards.

During his time as SEC Chair, Gensler brought enforcement actions against several financial institutions for poor record-keeping, which led to over $400 million in settlements in 2023.

According to the OIG report, an automatic setting managed by the SEC’s technology team erased all content from Gensler’s government-issued phone. This deletion occurred between October 2022 and September 2023 and included text messages that may have been related to enforcement activities.

The watchdog noted that the situation was made worse by several internal issues. These included weak procedures for managing system changes, missing device backups, overlooked alerts, and flaws in external software.

Recently, Coinbase $1.77B asked a federal court in Washington, DC, to sanction the SEC over the deleted text messages from Gensler. What did the exchange say? Read the full story.