SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal Is Leaving the Agency

Gurbir Grewal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) director of enforcement, is stepping down and departing the agency, according to a Wednesday press release.

Grewal’s last day will be Oct. 11. Sanjay Wadhwa, Grewal’s deputy director of enforcement, will step in as acting director of the SEC’s enforcement division after Grewal’s departure. Sam Waldon, who is currently the chief counsel for the enforcement division, will be named 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,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a press statement. “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.”

Under Grewal’s three-year tenure as enforcement director, the SEC authorized more than 2,400 enforcement matters, leading to over $20 billion in disgorgement and civil penalties, and handed out over $1 billion in awards to whistleblowers, according to the press release.

In their announcement of Grewal’s departure, the agency lauded his crypto-related enforcement track record in particular, writing:

“Under Mr. Grewal’s leadership, the Division recommended and the Commission authorized more than 100 enforcement actions addressing widespread noncompliance in the quickly growing crypto space, including against the operators of the largest crypto asset trading platforms in the world and the operator of the largest crypto asset trading platform in the United States for depriving investors of crucial investor protections by not complying with the registration provisions of the federal securities laws.”

The SEC has announced a number of enforcement actions and settlements in the crypto space over the past few weeks, ahead of the end of the fiscal year, including eToro, Mango Markets and Galois Capital.