Over the past year, the SEC’s enforcement priorities under Chairman Gary Gensler and Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division Gurbir Grewal have continued to develop and come into focus. The SEC has placed a significant emphasis on climate change and other ESG issues, as well as cryptocurrency, SPACs, market manipulation and recordkeeping.
Many areas with increased SEC enforcement have also seen an increase in private securities litigation. Private litigants are actively litigating suits related to ESG disclosures, cryptocurrency and SPACs, and such litigation will likely continue to increase in the coming months and years as focus on these spaces continues to surge. Despite growth in some areas, however, private securities litigation class action filings have fallen overall. S&C’s Securities Enforcement and Litigation Update reviews and analyzes these and other recent developments in SEC enforcement and private securities litigation, including numerical trends, areas of focus and significant court decisions.