ASA Statement on SEC Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) today sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee’s leadership ahead of its hearing on oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“Congress must take its power back from this agency, or unelected technocrats will continue to push political agendas and engage in lawfare for partisan ends,” said ASA President and CEO Chris Iacovella. “Professional class consultants, lawyers, and service providers have profited handsomely from the SEC’s agenda at the expense of America’s working families, retirees and pensioners, and that must end.”

In the letter, ASA highlighted the SEC’s recent and unprecedented streak of legal defeats to hold the Commission accountable. These include:

·    A June 2020 decision in the Fifth Circuit that the SEC’s repeal of its own 2020 proxy advisor reforms was arbitrary and capricious;

·    The 2023 private funds rule – one of the SEC’s major initiatives of the last few years – being struck down by the Fifth Circuit in June 2024;

·    A federal judge imposing sanctions on the SEC for “bad faith” conduct in conjunction with an enforcement case against Debt Box;

·    The Commission’s stock buyback rule being struck down in December 2023, with the court finding that the SEC acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” and that it had violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA);

·    A 2023 decision where the D.C. Circuit ruled against the SEC with regard to its denial of a Grayscale bitcoin fund; and

·    A 2023 decision where a federal judged ruled against the SEC in its enforcement case against Ripple.

To read the full letter, click here.

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The American Securities Association (ASA) represents the retail and institutional capital markets interests of regional financial services firms who provide Main Street businesses with access to capital and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. ASA’s mission is to promote trust and confidence among investors, facilitate capital formation, and support efficient and competitively balanced capital markets. This mission advances financial independence, stimulates job creation, and increases prosperity. The ASA has a geographically diverse membership of almost one hundred members that spans the Heartland, Southwest, Southeast, Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States.