Back to Basics: Inside the SEC's New Enforcement Priorities

In this episode of Regulatory Oversight, co-host Stephen Piepgrass sits down with Jay Dubow and Ghillaine Reid, co-leaders of the firm's Securities Investigation + Enforcement practice, to explore how the SEC's enforcement agenda is evolving under Chairman Paul Atkins and what that means for public companies, financial institutions, and their executives. The discussion begins with the SEC's rescission of its long‑standing "gag rule," which had barred settling parties from publicly denying enforcement allegations. The guests explain why the change is significant, how it intersects with First Amendment challenges in the Powell case, and the potential risks for companies or executives who now choose to speak out about future or past settlements. The episode then turns to broader enforcement trends: a sharp drop in total cases and public‑company actions following the transition from Gary Gensler to Atkins, a "back to basics" focus on insider trading, accounting fraud, and disclosure, and resource constraints from staff reductions. The group also highlights hot‑button areas such as crypto registration, "AI washing," and proposed disclosure reforms, emphasizing that despite a perceived enforcement downturn, companies should not relax their compliance efforts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.