SEC Enforcement Chief Gurbir Grewal to Step Down, Sanjay Wadhwa to Take Over
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- Gurbir S. Grewal, the SEC’s Director of Enforcement, will step down on October 11, 2024, with Deputy Director Sanjay Wadhwa set to replace him temporarily.
- During his three-year tenure, Grewal led over 2,400 enforcement actions, securing more than $20 billion in penalties, including significant efforts in the crypto sector.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Wednesday that Gurbir S. Grewal, the Director of the Division of Enforcement, will be leaving the agency on October 11, 2024. After his departure, Sanjay Wadhwa, the Deputy Director, will take over as Acting Director, and Sam Waldon, the Chief Counsel, will step in as Acting Deputy Director.
“We have been incredibly fortunate that such an accomplished public servant, Gurbir Grewal, came to the SEC to lead the Division of Enforcement for the last three years,” Chair Gary Gensler said.
“Every day, he has thought about how to best protect investors and help ensure market participants comply with our time-tested securities laws. He has led a Division that has acted without fear or favor, following the facts and the law wherever they may lead. I greatly enjoyed working with him and wish him well.”
During Gurbir S. Grewal’s time as Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, the agency pursued over 2,400 enforcement actions, securing more than $20 billion in penalties, and returning billions to harmed investors. His leadership saw over 340 industry bars and more than $1 billion in whistleblower awards.
Under his guidance, the SEC took over 100 actions in the fast-growing crypto sector, targeting major global and U.S. crypto trading platforms for failing to meet federal securities laws. He also led enforcement efforts against market manipulation in private funds, inadequate disclosures, and conflicts of interest. The SEC prioritized insider trading cases, including both traditional insider trading and misuse of material non-public information (MNPI), and brought actions against firms for failures in block trading and MNPI-related policies.
Grewal’s tenure also saw significant actions against gatekeepers, including a massive fraud by an audit firm affecting over 1,500 SEC filings and auditor independence violations. In 2021, Grewal initiated an effort to ensure regulated entities adhered to recordkeeping rules, leading to charges against over 100 firms and $2 billion in penalties for failures in maintaining electronic communications.
Before the SEC, Grewal was New Jersey’s Attorney General, Bergen County Prosecutor, and Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey and New York. He holds a J.D. from the College of William & Mary and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
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