U.S. Republican lawmakers probe deleted text messages from former SEC chair Gary Gensler's tenure

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) former chair Gary Gensler is facing an investigation by House Republican members over text messages he deleted while in office.

According to The Block on the 30th (local time), Republican House members French Hill, Dan Meuser, Brian Steil, and Ann Wagner sent a letter to current SEC chair Paul Atkins expressing concern that Gensler's text messages were missing for about a year. Gensler led the SEC from 2021 to 2024.

The SEC Office of Inspector General (OIG) said earlier this month that the SEC's technology office implemented an automated policy that reset Gensler's government-issued mobile phone, and as a result text messages from October 2022 through September 2023 were lost. During this period the SEC filed multiple lawsuits against major virtual asset companies, including Coinbase and Binance.

Coinbase recently asked a federal court to order a "swift and lawful search" of Gensler's deleted text messages. The lawmakers also raised concerns by pointing to instances in which Gensler, during his time as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), handled official business using personal email.

The lawmakers said, "Taken together with these incidents and the OIG's findings, serious concerns are raised about former Chair Gensler's and the SEC Office of Information Technology's compliance with the Federal Records Act, transparency obligations, and the credibility of the agency's oversight."