Gensler Texts Permanently Lost, House Opens Probe

An SEC Office of Inspector General review found nearly a year of former Chair Gary Gensler’s texts (Oct. 18, 2022–Sept. 6, 2023) were permanently lost after the Office of Information Technology triggered an enterprise wipe and a subsequent factory reset while the device had not been backed up and routine alerts and change controls were missed. The OIG faulted weak change management, unaddressed vendor software flaws, missed backups and ignored system alerts, and issued corrective recommendations the agency says it is implementing. The missing messages overlap a period of intense SEC enforcement, including high‑profile crypto cases involving firms such as Coinbase and Binance, prompting concerns from litigants and lawmakers that key communications about enforcement and policy may be irretrievable. Four House Financial Services Committee Republican chairs — French Hill, Ann Wagner, Dan Meuser and Bryan Steil — opened an oversight inquiry and wrote to current SEC Chair Paul Atkins, noting the SEC collected over $400 million in recordkeeping penalties even as it failed to preserve its own records and raising questions about potential special treatment. Coinbase has sought court intervention to compel a proper search for the deleted messages, underscoring the legal and regulatory stakes.