Following the departure of its enforcement chief, the SEC is changing its enforcement strategy to focus on the significance of each case rather than the overall count. Bloomberg reports that acting Enforcement Director Sam Waldon explained that the agency will now put “quality over quantity” when choosing future actions. This marks an early indication of how enforcement could shift under the new leadership.  

This change is happening as overall enforcement activity has slowed down, and both the number of cases and the size of penalties have fallen during the second Trump administration. Waldon recognized this trend but pointed out that these figures do not always reflect the agency’s effectiveness. “I know folks like to focus on numbers, number of cases,” he said. “And I get it.” However, he emphasized that the agency will focus on cases that directly harm investors, including insider trading, accounting fraud, market manipulation, and breaches of fiduciary duty.  

Waldon also mentioned that the SEC will continue to handle non-fraud cases when needed. This shows the agency is not narrowing its focus, but is instead deciding how to use its resources in a new way. This approach is similar to that of former enforcement chief Margaret “Meg” Ryan, who left earlier this week after a brief tenure.