U.S. Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Jim Jordan (R-OH), James Comer (R-KY), and Tom Emmer (R-MN) recently forwarded correspondence to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) SEC Chair Gary Gensler, citing concerns regarding agency transparency as related to enforcing record-keeping laws.
The letter stemmed from reports suggesting SEC officials are using off-channel communications platforms that include Teams and Zoom to conduct official business without producing the records in response to open-record requests.
“In 2013, while you served as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the CFTC Office of Inspector General discovered how you used a personal email account to conduct official business,” the legislators wrote. “Recent reports suggest the SEC, under your leadership, is likewise failing to comply with federal record-keeping statutes. In particular, evidence uncovered during Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation suggests the SEC is failing to identify and produce records of official business conducted on non-email or “off-channel” platforms, such as Signal, WhatsApp, Teams, and Zoom—regardless of whether the communication took place on a personal or business device.”
McHenry, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, said transparency and accountability at federal agencies are essential, especially at the SEC, as the agency pursues an unprecedented number of rulemakings that could profoundly impact the nation’s capital markets.
“The American people deserve transparency from their regulators, but time and time again, Chair Gensler refuses to practice what he preaches,” Emmer, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations ranking member, said. “It is inappropriate for SEC to target the private sector for failing to comply with record-keeping laws when the SEC itself is in violation of similar transparency laws.”