What can advisors expect after the shock resignation of SEC’s ‘top cop’?

The surprise resignation of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement director after just over six months in the role doesn’t mean that advisors should expect any shift in the regulator’s strategic direction, say legal experts.

Judge Margaret “Meg” Ryan’s decision to step down as acting head of the SEC’s enforcement division once again thrust the regulator into the spotlight. Ryan, who has been described as the SEC's "top cop,” had only been in the role since Sept. 2.

But Thoreau Bartmann, a partner in the asset management and investment funds group at law firm K&L Gates, who previously worked in the enforcement division of the SEC, told InvestmentNews that advisors should expect to see business as usual from the regulator.

“Enforcement division directors, they set the tone and pace of the enforcement division, but their primary job is to administer the policy direction of the Commission with respect to enforcement, and so I would expect largely a continuity of enforcement practices,” he said.  “The judge did just set out her priorities in a recent speech and an updated enforcement manual and both of those clearly reflect the direction of the commission.”

Bartmann also highlighted the fact that the new acting director, Sam Waldon is a very well respected, long-serving staff member of the Commission. Waldon was previously the acting director of the division of enforcement, and has deep experience with both the practices of enforcement, and the staff, and also understands the needs and policy priorities of the Commission, he added.

Waldon served as acting director of the division of enforcement from January 2025 until Ryan assumed the role last year. He has also served as acting deputy director and chief counsel, as the enforcement division’s assistant chief counsel and as an investigative attorney. 

Valerie Mirko, partner and leader of the securities regulation and litigation practice and managing attorney of the D.C. office of law firm Armstrong Teasdale also points to Waldon’s experience at the SEC, as well as the Commission’s broader strategic direction.

“We have seen changes, and frankly, improvements, to the SEC’s enforcement program, beginning in late January of 2025,” she told InvestmentNews. “It’s March 2026 now, this has been going on for 15 months – I think that’s the trajectory to monitor, as opposed to doing it by who is currently the director or the acting director of the enforcement division.”

“I do not believe that Judge Ryan’s departure from the director of enforcement role is going to change the larger trajectory of programmatic enforcement we have seen under [SEC] chair [Paul] Atkins,” she added. “Nor do I believe that it is going to change the priorities that may impact financial advisors, whether they are affiliated with a broker-dealer or an investment advisor, or dual registrant.”

Mirko, who recently testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Capital Markets Subcommittee on the role of FINRA and the MSRB, highlighted the SEC’s renewed emphasis on “back to basics,” on investor harm, and on retail investor protection.

Atkins, for example, wants to open up private markets for investors, while also ensuring that they have adequate protection. The SEC chair has repeatedly emphasized the need for “guardrails” in this area.

The SEC chair has also discussed his desire to, where possible, ease regulatory burdens, particularly with regard to communications.

The rise of crypto is another key issue on the SEC chair’s plate. Erin Friez, CEO of crypto RIA Digital Ascension Group told InvestmentNews that she wants to see greater clarity around the regulation of crypto assets. “Right now, what we’re watching closely is the main infrastructure bill that’s making its way through Congress,” she said. “I think we need rules of the road … for instance, are these assets securities or commodities?”

Friez would also like clear guidelines about which regulators will be responsible for specific assets. “A lot of RIAs are looking for that type of clarity,” she added.

Earlier this month the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sought to clarify the application of federal securities laws to crypto assets. In a statement, the SEC said that the move provides greater clarity around crypto assets and “complements Congressional endeavors to codify a comprehensive market structure framework into statute.”