Chair/Commissioner Remarks and Litigation and Enforcement Trends
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) held its annual SEC Speaks conference—after a hiatus in 2023—on April 3 and 4, 2024 in Washington, D.C. The conference featured remarks from Chair Gary Gensler, Commissioner Hester Peirce, Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda, and Director of the Division of Enforcement (the “Division”) Gurbir S. Grewal, as well as panel discussions addressing current SEC initiatives, priorities, and enforcement trends for the upcoming year. The conference speakers and panels also provided an update on litigation, judicial, and legislative developments.
The panels emphasized the SEC’s three-fold mission of (i) protecting investors; (ii) maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and (iii) facilitating capital formation.
Highlights from this year’s conference included significant discussion of the treatment of cryptocurrency assets; the SEC’s focus on individual accountability, self-reporting and cooperation considerations; the SEC’s active whistleblower program; and other enforcement and examination trends from the past year.
A full overview of the SEC’s statements from the conference can be found, here.