Gurbir Grewal has left the US Securities and Exchange Commission after serving as its director for the Division of Enforcement since July 2021.
Sanjay Waddhwa will take over as interim director on October 11, according to a SEC announcement made Wednesday.
“From recalibrating penalties and remedies to confronting emerging risks to holding issuers, insiders and gatekeepers accountable, I am incredibly proud of all that we’ve accomplished as a division during my tenure,” Grewal stated in a press release. “I am grateful to Chair Gensler not just for the opportunity to lead the division, but also for his unwavering commitment to investor protection and support of a robust enforcement program.”
Grewal became the head of SEC just a few months after Gary Gensler took office as chair in April 2020. Cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions, which had been on the rise before Grewal and Gensler took over, were a significant part of Grewal’s tenure.
Grewal was the leader of the organization in 2022. In 2023, Grewal issued a total 40 crypto enforcement actions. By May 2022, the enforcement division had almost doubled it’s crypto assets unit and its cyber team.
Since the start of 2024, 18 actions had been taken by the agency to enforce crypto.
“Every day, [Grewal] has thought about how to best protect investors and help ensure market participants comply with our time-tested securities laws,” Gensler stated in a press release. “He has led a division that has acted without fear or favor, following the facts and the law wherever they may lead. I greatly enjoyed working with him and wish him well.”
Wadhwa joined the SEC’s New York enforcement division in 2003. He was the New York Enforcement Division’s senior associate director for eight years, before becoming the division’s deputy director.
SEC representative declined to comment.
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