SEC appoints David Woodcock as new enforcement director amid concerns over previous lead, agency's crypto cases

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed a new enforcement director following the departure of its former chief, a transition that has raised concerns among lawmakers about the agency’s approach to cryptocurrency cases.

On Wednesday, the agency said David Woodcock would be the new director of the division of enforcement, touting his previous experience at the SEC. Woodcock was previously director of the SEC's Fort Worth office from 2011 to 2015, where the agency said he oversaw enforcement and examination lawyers, examiners, and accountants and "oversaw investigations in nearly every major area of the SEC’s enforcement program."

"I am incredibly pleased to have David rejoin the SEC at this critical time, as we continue to focus on the types of misconduct that inflict the greatest harm to investors," said SEC Chair Paul Atkins in a statement.

David Woodcock's experience

Woodcock doesn't have clear crypto ties.

Since February 2023, he has been a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and before that spent more than a decade as an adjunct professor at Texas A&M University. His previous roles also include serving as assistant general counsel at ExxonMobil and as a partner focused on securities litigation and SEC enforcement at Jones Day, according to his LinkedIn profile.

While at Jones Day in 2017, he did pen a commentary with others about the SEC's action on initial coin offerings.

More recently at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, he and others wrote updates on the SEC's enforcement in 2025, which they called a "sea change" since Atkins took the helm in early 2025.

Switch-up in leadership

Woodcock is taking on the role a month after its former enforcement director, Margaret Ryan's, swift departure. Reuters reported Ryan wanted to delve more intensely into going after fraud charges that involved those in President Donald Trump's inner circle, but that Atkins and other top Republicans at the commission were opposed to it, citing two people familiar.

Tensions intensified around the case involving Justin Sun, according to Reuters. During the administration of Joe Biden, the SEC charged Sun and three affiliated companies with conducting unregistered securities offerings tied to the TRX and BTT tokens. Regulators also alleged that Sun engaged in fraudulent activity by artificially inflating TRX’s price through wash trading and by paying celebrities — such as Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul — to promote the tokens without proper disclosure.

Under the Trump administration, the SEC has moved to drop several cases against major crypto firms, including Coinbase and Kraken, which had been accused of failing to properly register. In May, the agency also dismissed its case against Binance, where it had alleged the company misrepresented its trading controls.

In March, the SEC dropped charges against Sun, the Tron Foundation, and Rainberry, though it required Rainberry to pay a $10 million civil penalty. Sun has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and has made significant investments in crypto ventures linked to the Trump family, including World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP memecoin. World Liberty Financial has also invested millions of dollars in Tron and other digital assets.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal has raised concerns over Ryan's leave, adding that Trump's conflicts of interest created a  "pay-to-play enforcement regime," and asked for records and communications to be sent to him by next week.

On Tuesday, the SEC released its 2025 enforcement report and said that it viewed past enforcement actions under the Biden administration as a "misinterpretation of the federal securities laws."