The head of the top Wall Street watchdog has pledged to give businesses notice of technical violations before “bashing down their door”, as he scraps the aggressive enforcement agenda pursued under former president Joe Biden.
Paul Atkins, who this year was appointed chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission by US President Donald Trump, told the Financial Times in an interview in Paris that the agency was geared to go after “crooks”.
“If you lie, cheat or steal your investors and steal their money like [disgraced former financier] Bernie Madoff, we’ll leave you naked, homeless and without wheels,” Atkins said, quoting a sign posted in the office of his first SEC boss Richard Breeden.