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The US Securities and Exchange Commission is the world’s premier financial regulator, overseeing probably over $100tn of assets that form the bedrock of the global financial system. And it just got a new top cop.
From the SEC this evening:
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Judge Margaret “Meg” Ryan has been named Director of the Division of Enforcement, effective Sept. 2, 2025. Acting Director of Enforcement Sam Waldon will return to his previous role as Chief Counsel for the Division.
“I am thrilled to welcome Judge Ryan to the SEC,” said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “She brings to the Commission decades of experience as a respected judge and practitioner of the law. She is fulfilling a critical role. Judge Ryan will lead the Division guided by Congress’ original intent: enforcing the securities laws, particularly as they relate to fraud and manipulation.”
You’d expect the head of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement to be steeped in securities law, financial crime and have deep experience as a prosecutor, perhaps a one of the major US Attorney offices or at the SEC.
Ryan’s immediate predecessor Gurbir Grewal was previously Attorney General for New Jersey, a federal prosecutor at New York’s Eastern District, and led the economic crime unit of the New Jersey Attorney’s Office, where he hounded both organised crime and high-frequency traders.
Before that, the division was (very briefly!) led by Alex Oh, a former partner at Paul Weiss and assistant US Attorney in the finance-oriented Southern District of New York. Her predecessors Stephanie Avakian and Steven Peikin were veteran securities lawyers and vastly experienced former SEC/SDNY staffers with thousands of enforcement actions and billions of dollars’ worth of fines and disgorgements under their belt.
Ryan must have some serious chops to step into such a highly specialised and impo?.?.?.?
Judge Ryan is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. She was nominated to the court in 2006 by President George W. Bush, was confirmed by the United States Senate, and served the entirety of her term through July 2020. She reached senior status in August 2020. Judge Ryan currently is a lecturer on military law and justice at Harvard University Law School. She was a visiting professor at Notre Dame Law School and lecturer at The George Washington University Law School.
Before her tenure as judge, Ryan was a partner at two law firms — Wiley Rein & Fielding and Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott — but FT Alphaville cannot immediately find out if they handled any financial cases there whatsoever. In fact, the only thing we can find of note about her background is that she’s consistently been on Donald Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement is the agency’s biggest, with about 1,400 people tasked with keeping America’s financial markets clean and fair. Ryan’s credentials to the task seem?.?.?.?exceptionally limited.
Perhaps the former Marine judge will prove an able enforcement head regardless, but this looks very much like the kind of appointment you make if you don’t actually want an awful lot of enforcement. Huh.
Further reading:
— SEC commissioner Crenshaw rips the agency’s ‘regulatory Jenga’ (FTAV)
— Will the last SEC minority commissioner please turn off the lights on the way out? (FTAV)
— The ‘we’re still dancing’ quote of our time (FTAV)
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