Gurbir S. Grewal, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Director of the Division of Enforcement, is departing the commission after a three-year tenure.
The SEC announced that Friday would be the final day for Grewal, a former New Jersey attorney general. Sanjay Wadhwa, the Division’s Deputy Director, will serve as Acting Director, and Sam Waldon, the Division’s Chief Counsel, will serve 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.”
The SEC said that since taking on his role in 2021, Grewal prioritized restoring investor trust and confidence in the financial markets by emphasizing proactive enforcement initiatives and working to create a culture of compliance among market participants. Under his leadership, the division attempted to toughen its remedies to make them more of a deterrent to misconduct so that they were seen as more than “simply the cost of doing business”.
He also emphasized holding insiders, industry professionals, and gatekeepers accountable for their securities law violations, rooting out fraudulent conduct, enforcing disclosure and recordkeeping requirements, and enforcing whistleblower protections.
“From recalibrating penalties and remedies to confronting emerging risks to holding issuers, insiders, and gatekeepers accountable, I am incredibly proud of all that we’ve accomplished as a Division during my tenure,” said Grewal. “I am grateful to Chair Gensler not just for the opportunity to lead the Division, but also for his unwavering commitment to investor protection and support of a robust enforcement program.”
The SEC said that during Grewal’s tenure, the Division of Enforcement recommended, and the Commission authorized, more than 2,400 enforcement matters resulting in orders for more than $20 billion in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, more than 340 industry bars against individuals, more than $1 billion in awards to whistleblowers, and the return of billions of dollars to harmed investors.
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