WASHINGTON, July 14 — Gurbir Grewal has spent time running the SEC’s enforcement machinery, and the numbers tell a story of relentless activity. Under the hood, the Division of Enforcement he leads, staffed by about 1,300 employees, has filed over 2,000 enforcement actions since his appointment in July 2021. The division obtained $4.9 billion in disgorgement and penalties in fiscal year 2023 alone.
The technical reality of Grewal’s tenure is that he inherited an agency already shifting toward more aggressive enforcement, and he accelerated it. The cases that landed on his desk include the December 2022 action against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the February 2023 complaint against Terraform Labs, and the June 2023 charges against Binance.
Each represented a significant escalation in the SEC’s push into cryptocurrency markets.
From Trenton to the SEC
Grewal, born in 1973, took a route to the SEC that ran through New Jersey. He earned a BA from Georgetown University and a JD from the College of William & Mary Law School before serving as the state’s Attorney General from 2018 to 2021. He was the first Sikh-American to hold a state attorney general position.
In that role, he oversaw the prosecution of financial crimes, including a $1.2 billion settlement with Johnson & Johnson over opioid marketing. That background shaped his approach at the SEC.
As ever, the detail that matters is that Grewal has emphasised the use of data analytics and cooperation from whistleblowers as tools to identify and pursue securities law violations. The division’s enforcement actions have not been without controversy.
The administrative proceedings debate
Grewal has faced criticism from defense lawyers and some commissioners for the SEC’s aggressive use of administrative proceedings. The agency’s policy of demanding admissions of guilt in certain cases has also drawn fire. Critics argue that administrative proceedings give the SEC an advantage over defendants, who lack the procedural protections of federal court.
The division’s enforcement record under Grewal has been substantial, but the debate over its methods continues. The SEC’s use of administrative proceedings and its demand for admissions of guilt remain points of friction between the enforcement division and the defense bar.
What to watch next: Grewal’s approach to enforcement will likely remain a focus as the SEC continues to pursue cases in cryptocurrency markets and other areas of securities law. The division’s use of data analytics and whistleblower cooperation will be tested as new cases emerge.
