House Republicans have launched an investigation into the disappearance of text messages belonging to former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, raising concerns over transparency and oversight during his tenure at the agency.
In a letter sent Tuesday to current SEC Chair Paul Atkins, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill said lawmakers are working with the SEC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to gather more details about the incident.
The OIG’s September report concluded that text messages on Gensler’s government‑issued mobile phone were deleted between October 2022 and September 2023 due to an automated IT policy.
Lawmakers Question SEC’s Transparency Under Gensler
The House committee, joined by Representatives Ann Wagner, Dan Meuser, and Bryan Steil, argued that the loss of these records undermines public trust. They noted that under Gensler’s leadership, the SEC fined financial firms more than $400 million in 2023 for record‑keeping failures—standards they now say the agency itself failed to uphold.
The OIG’s report described a series of missteps by the SEC’s IT department, including poorly managed software updates, ignored system alerts, and a lack of backup devices. Together, these failures resulted in the permanent loss of Gensler’s text history.
Some of the missing communications reportedly involved enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies and their executives, raising questions about how decisions were made and whether critical deliberations will ever be recovered.
Crypto Industry Points to Bias
The revelations add fuel to criticism from the crypto industry, which has long accused Gensler of taking an overly aggressive stance toward digital assets. During his term from 2021 to 2025, the SEC filed numerous lawsuits against crypto firms, a campaign many industry leaders argued stifled innovation.
Some Republicans have echoed those concerns, accusing the Biden administration of pressuring banks to restrict services to crypto companies as part of a wider crackdown. The loss of Gensler’s messages, they argue, deepens suspicions that the SEC’s enforcement actions were inconsistent and politically driven.
The SEC’s credibility also took a hit in January 2024, when hackers compromised the agency’s official X account to falsely announce the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. The breach, X later confirmed, occurred because the SEC had not enabled two‑factor authentication.
With the House probe underway, lawmakers say they intend to scrutinize not only how Gensler’s messages were lost but also whether the agency is capable of meeting the same compliance standards it enforces on private firms.