SEC Appoints Grewal as Director of Enforcement

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that Gurbir Grewal, New Jersey’s attorney general since 2018, has been appointed as the director of the Division of Enforcement. 

“I’m honored and delighted to welcome Attorney General Grewal to the SEC,” Gary Gensler, SEC chair, said. “He has had a distinguished career as New Jersey’s chief law enforcement officer and as a prosecutor at both the local and federal levels. He has the ideal combination of experience, values, and leadership ability to helm the Enforcement Division at this critical time. I look forward to working closely with him to protect investors and root out wrongdoing in our markets.”

The SEC is a federal organization created after the collapse of the stock market in 1929 to protect investors and maintain fair and growing markets. 

It is also an organization in the middle of an effort to clean itself up. Earlier this month, SEC Chair Gensler fired William Duhnke, the chairman of the SEC Accounting Oversight Board, pending an investigation into potential workplace misconduct and favoritism. 

An increase in retail investors in the market since the summer of 2020 has introduced millions more Americans to the stock market world. With so much new money coming into the capital-finance systems, many have demanded more aggressive action on the part of the SEC to regulate these new traders. 

Grewal has a history in white collar and cybercrime from both his time as attorney general and his time as the chief of the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey from 2014 to 2016, making him well-equipped to deal with the new issues created by a more broadly accessible, app-based trading market. 

“Through his efforts standing up to the Trump administration’s attacks on New Jersey and our diverse communities, instituting historic reforms in policing, and leading the fight against gun violence, Attorney General Grewal has been an invaluable member of our administration and a dedicated public servant to the residents of New Jersey,” Gov. Murphy of New Jersey said in a statement released hours after the appointment. “Though we’ll miss his leadership, I know he’s the right person to protect investors all across the nation, and I congratulate SEC Chair Gensler for this outstanding selection.”

Grewal graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1995. He obtained his law degree from the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 1999.

Grewal will take office effective July 26, 2021. His position as attorney general will be filled by interim leader Andrew Bruck, 38, who was nominated by Murphy and will hold the position until Murphy’s term in office ends.