SEC Enforcement Head Woodcock Executes Atkins’ Back to Basics Agenda

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new director of the Division of Enforcement, David Woodcock, said Wednesday (May 13) that the agency’s focus is and will remain on protecting investors and safeguarding markets by stopping all forms of fraud and manipulation.

In a speech delivered at the MFA Legal & Compliance 2026 conference, Woodcock said those kinds of cases are the ones the Division was formed to fight, and they are the ones it will pursue during his tenure.

“As a matter of first principles, my goals are aligned to those of Chairman [Paul S. Atkins]: to return the enforcement program back to basics,” Woodcock said. “That means vigorously protecting investors and safeguarding markets, while also providing transparency and certainty to those we regulate.”

Woodcock shared examples of cases recently brought by the SEC and said they show the different forms of misconduct on which the Division will focus. They include offering frauds; financial reporting matters; market manipulation and insider trading; private funds abuses; cross-border fraud; and retail fraud.

Woodcock closed the speech by saying that the SEC is focused on firms or individuals that cause real investor harm, not on those that make honest mistakes that cause no investor harm.

“The Commission recognizes the difference between error and fraud, and our remedies will be calibrated accordingly,” Woodcock said. “But how the firm engages with the Division during an investigation also matters. A company that self-reports, cooperates fully and remediates will not be treated the same as one that conceals or obstructs.”

Woodcock took over leadership of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement on May 4. A veteran securities lawyer and former agency official, Woodcock most recently served as a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Dallas.

SEC Chairman Atkins said May 4 that the agency is investigating allegations of fraud in private credit markets, without mentioning specific cases.

Woodcock said Wednesday during his speech that the rapid expansion of private credit was driven by prior banking regulatory decisions that limited the availability of financing for small and growing businesses.

“There are stresses in some portfolios and developments playing out more broadly across this sector, and we are monitoring the situation,” Woodcock said.