Leading Republicans in Congress took aim at Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler in a Tuesday letter that accused the agency of failing to comply with federal record-keeping laws.
The letter cites a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by D.C. lawyer Chris Horner that alleges the SEC staff are making extensive use of private messaging channels rather than official government email for official correspondence.
The letter, signed by Republican representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Patrick Henry of North Carolina, James Comer of Kentucky and Tom Emmer of Minnesota accuses Gensler of “skirting federal transparency and records laws” by failing to collect and produce records of official business conducted on non-email platforms like Signal, Facebook’s
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The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“While the SEC is failing to comply with federal transparency and record-keeping laws, the SEC is aggressively enforcing record-keeping laws on private businesses,” the letter reads, noting the agency recently charged 16 firms with $1.1 billion in fines for failing to maintain electronic communications.
“In a press release announcing the penalties, you ironically emphasized the importance of transparency…the SEC must practice the transparency and accountability that it preaches.”
The letters signatories, who serve as ranking members of the House Financial Services, Judiciary and Oversight committees, demanded that Gensler respond to the letter no later than Nov. 15 to certify the SEC is following record-keeping laws and that neither Gensler himself nor his direct reports are not using off-channel communications for official business.
