As budget cuts continue throughout the federal government, the Securities and Exchange Commission has fired the top directors at its10 regional offices around the nation.
The action, reported by Financial Advisor and Reuters, is one element of the cost-cutting plan the SEC will be submitting next month to the Trump Administration. The directors received an announcement last month informing them that their roles would be eliminated. Discharging the regional directors requires the vote of the three-member commission.
Regional directors play key roles in probes of security law violations, as they often lead examinations and investigations into public companies, brokers and investment advisers in their jurisdictions.
“The regional leadership is what the home office has always looked to for making decisions about enforcement cases and exams. This is a difficult layer to remove,” Andrew M. Calamari, a partner with Finn Dixon & Herling LLP and former director of the SEC’s New York office, told Reuters.
The firings of the directors come at a time when the SEC is under pressure from President Trump to reduce staff and costs, according to the report.
Last month White House Senior Advisor Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency said they would be scrutinizing the operations of the SEC, saying in a message that DOGE is actively seeking “insights on finding and fixing waste, fraud and abuse relating to the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Thousands of workers have been fired or laid off from federal government agencies as President Trump and DOGE have continued their efforts to reduce the federal workforce. Last month Trump issued an executive order applicable to independent agencies such as the SEC, saying that draft regulations must be submitted to the White House for review before publication and that the agencies must consult with the Trump administration on their priorities and strategic plans.
Recently, the SEC told all staff, including the unionized workforce, that they must resume working from the office starting April 14.
The commission has also sent an email to staff informing them of plans by the General Services Administration to terminate building leases for its regional offices in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, according to a Reuters report.
The commission said the ending of those leases is not directly related to any staff reorganizations or layoffs within the SEC.
The attorneys at Lewitas Hyman include former senior attorneys at the SEC whose legal experience and industry knowledge make them uniquely qualified to provide counsel on securities regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters. Our attorneys fully understand the regulatory scrutiny financial professionals and their firms face from the various regulators that oversee the financial services industry. If your firm is facing an investigation from a regulatory agency, please contact Lewitas Hyman at (888) 655-6002 or through our online contact form.
