The US House Committee on Financial Services has given an ultimatum to Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to respond to its inquiries. The Committee had previously requested the SEC to provide internal non-public documents regarding its activities. These include charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, the bankrupt FTX founder, crypto regulations, and company climate disclosures. The Committee also asked the SEC to provide a list of all digital asset entities that tried registering with the Commission and documents related to the process.
The lawmakers criticized Gensler and the SEC staff for failing to provide adequate responses. The Committee received voluminous documents of mostly publicly available information, which they deemed unacceptable. The Committee urged the SEC to provide timely and responsive answers, as they found it inconceivable that an agency with nearly 5,000 employees, including 150 attorneys in its General Counsel’s office and over 200 employees in the IT department, would struggle to process three requests from Congress.
The Committee has given a May 19 deadline to the SEC to provide the requested documents. Otherwise, the Committee will invite its General Counsel and the director of the Legislative Affairs Office for questioning.
Congressman Accuses SEC of Stonewalling
Congressman Bill Huizenga expressed his frustration with the SEC’s inadequate responses, saying that the lawmakers were tired of the SEC’s “stonewalling”. Huizenga added that during a Financial Committee hearing, Gensler had said he respects the role of congressional oversight. If Gensler fails to answer their questions, someone from his staff would have to do so.
The letter marks the latest effort of the Committee to understand the SEC’s operation under Gensler. However, previous letters and hearings have not yielded regulatory clarity for the crypto industry. Some members have suggested that the lawmakers subpoena and compel the Commission to respond to its requests.