Fewer Actions, Sharper Focus: SEC Enforcement Declines in Fiscal Year 2025 as Priorities Shift

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) recently released enforcement results for the 2025 fiscal year (Results) reflect the SEC Division of Enforcement’s (Division) new enforcement priorities, consistent with SEC’s stated goals of moving beyond “regulation by enforcement” by deploying only a “minimal dose” of regulation and enforcement and prioritizing enforcement matters involving investor harm. In releasing the Results, Chairman Paul S. Atkins noted that “the Commission has put a stop to regulation by enforcement,” and has “redirected resources” to prioritize cases that focus on “misconduct that inflict[s] the greatest harm” in order to “provide meaningful investor protection and strengthen market integrity.” The Results are consistent with those new priorities, showing an overall decline in enforcement actions from prior years and a clear shift away from book-and-record violations, a friendly view towards innovation and emerging technologies, and a focus on pursuing actions involving fraudulent conduct resulting in investor harm. 

Enforcement Changes By the Numbers

The statistics accompanying the Results paint a clear picture of the SEC’s pivot: 

• The Division filed 22 percent fewer enforcement actions in 2025 than in 2024.

• Over half of the new enforcement actions brought in 2025 were brought as part of an “unprecedented rush to bring a significant number of cases in advance of the presidential inauguration,” and there were only 192 enforcement actions brought after January 20, 2025.  

• Excluding satisfied amounts and an outlier case that resulted in dramatic penalties ordered of nearly $15 billion, the total monetary relief ordered in 2025 was $2.7 billion, or about 33 percent of the $8.2 billion in monetary relief ordered in 2024. 

• The Division closed 1,095 open investigatory matters.

Criticism of Prior Enforcement Priorities 

In releasing the Results, the SEC noted that it had “deliberately refocused the enforcement program on matters of fraud,” and away from cases brought under the prior administration that the SEC believes “were not sufficiently grounded in the federal securities laws.” Chairman Atkins echoed this sentiment, explaining that the SEC is redirecting resources “away from [enforcement] approaches that prioritized volume and record-setting penalties over true investor protection.” For example, the SEC noted that it now views its prior enforcement related to books-and-records violations — specifically the Commission’s industry sweep regarding the preservation of off-channel communications — as “an inappropriate use of enforcement resources by the prior Commission that did little to advance investor protection.” 

Additionally, the SEC made what it deemed “a necessary course correction in its approach to enforcing the federal securities laws in the context of crypto assets,” by dismissing seven significant crypto-related enforcement actions brought by the prior Commission. While the SEC shifted away from crypto firm registration and “definition of a dealer” cases, this “course correction” did not stop the Commission from pursuing fraud cases involving crypto and other emerging technologies. The SEC brought charges related to a fraudulent crypto token offering, fraud and misappropriation related to a crypto asset and foreign exchange scheme, and the fraudulent solicitation of investments in a technology startup that falsely touted its use of AI. 

Focus on Investor Harm, Fraud and Manipulation

Consistent with the Commission’s repeated statements that it is “standing up to fraud in its many forms,” the SEC explained that it “deliberately refocused the enforcement program on matters of fraud[.]” Since January 20, 2025, the Division has brought 125 new cases focused on various types of fraud and investor harm, including: 

• filing two complaints against individuals and their companies for years-long, nine-figure Ponzi schemes, including one involving retail investors; 

• filing a complaint against an individual and his privately held commercial real estate investment firm for raising capital from retail investors through false representations and subsequently misappropriating those funds; 

• filing a case involving allegations of options spoofing against a California resident; 

• filing a stock price and volume manipulation by a Russian national through cyber hacks; 

• filing and/or settling multiple insider trading complaints against corporate executives, signaling the SEC’s continued commitment to prosecute this form of fraud; and

• filing cases involving allegations of fraud perpetrated against particularly vulnerable groups of retail investors, including veteran communities, the elderly, and members of a religious community. 

The Commission also continued to prosecute several fraud and/or investor harm-related enforcement actions brought by the previous Commission, as those cases all involved investor harm and fraud, including prosecuting a “pump-and-dump” scheme conducted via Twitter and fraudulent securities offerings targeting retirees.

Heightened Focus on Individual Accountability

Chairman Atkins noted that a “key part” of the SEC’s new focus and “course correction is a renewed emphasis on holding individual wrongdoers accountable, which promotes stronger deterrence and better safeguards investors.” Approximately two-thirds of standalone actions brought in 2025 involved charges against one or more individuals, a 27 percent year-over-year increase, and nearly nine out of every ten standalone actions involved individual charges. The Commission also obtained orders barring 119 individuals from serving as officers and directors of public companies. 

Looking Ahead

The proof is in the pudding, and the Results seem to reflect the SEC putting into action Chairman Atkins' call to refocus enforcement on fraud and cases of investor harm. While enforcement has slowed compared to the prior year, the SEC attributes this to the refocusing, noting that cases involving matters of fraud “inherently require more time and resources to develop and bring, often requiring up to two or more years to manifest results.” Looking forward, the Division, under the direction of Commissioner Atkins and newly appointed Director of Enforcement David Woodcock, seems poised to keep the Commission’s focus on more traditional enforcement activity aimed squarely at protecting investors and preventing fraud. 

For more information about trends in SEC enforcement actions and how this may impact regulatory compliance and enforcement going forward, please contact one of the authors of this article or your primary Katten attorney.