Lawmakers question double standards as key communications tied to crypto enforcement vanish
House Republicans have opened an investigation into the loss of text messages from former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, raising concerns over transparency and potential double standards during his leadership from 2021 to 2025.
In a letter sent to current SEC Chair Paul Atkins, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill said the panel is working with the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to examine its findings from early September. The report revealed that an automated IT policy wiped Gensler’s government-issued phone, erasing messages between October 2022 and September 2023.
Hill stressed that the committee “is engaging with the OIG to learn more about their report, seek clarity on outstanding questions, and discuss additional areas that require further oversight and investigation.”
Deleted texts tied to crypto enforcement
The OIG confirmed that some of the lost communications were related to SEC enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies and executives, meaning the public record on how major cases were pursued may never be complete.
This revelation has fueled criticism from lawmakers and industry participants who accused Gensler of pushing aggressive legal battles against digital asset firms while failing to meet the same compliance standards internally.
“It appears that former Chair Gensler held companies to a standard that his own agency did not meet,” the lawmakers wrote.
Republicans cite double standards
During his tenure, Gensler’s SEC fined Wall Street banks and financial firms over $400 million in 2023 for record-keeping failures, yet his own deleted messages now highlight what critics call a contradictory approach.
The OIG faulted the SEC’s IT department for poor change management, ignored system alerts, and inadequate backup protocols, which led to the permanent deletion of records.
Experts argue that the loss of these records could undermine trust in financial regulators. “When enforcement actions involve billions in market impact, the absence of a full communication trail raises serious accountability questions,” said one policy analyst.
The incident follows another high-profile misstep in January 2024 when the SEC’s X account was hacked to
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