The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has disclosed that nearly 12 months of text messages from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler were erased due to technical mishandling by the agency’s Office of Information Technology (OIT).
The problems began in September 2023, when Gensler noticed that some applications had disappeared from his government-issued smartphone. In response, OIT staff performed a factory reset on the device, permanently deleting its stored data. At the same time, the agency had been running an automated policy—put in place earlier that year—meant to disable texting on official devices. The result: text records covering October 2022 through September 2023 were wiped.
Crucially, the OIT had not been backing up text messages during that period. By January 2024, the office confirmed that the data was gone, prompting the OIG to launch a review.
Impact on Transparency
The loss of these communications may affect the SEC’s ability to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, raising questions about transparency at the regulator. For an agency that plays a central role in overseeing both Wall Street and emerging crypto markets, the failure adds fuel to critics who have long accused the SEC of lacking accountability.
OIG Recommendations
The Inspector General’s report did not assign personal blame but highlighted systemic shortcomings in the SEC’s mobile device and records management. It issued a series of recommendations to strengthen how the agency preserves official communications, including clearer protocols for disabling applications, better oversight of automated policies, and proper backup systems to prevent data loss in the future.
Why It Matters
The episode underscores how technical missteps at key federal agencies can compromise record-keeping at the highest levels. While the missing text messages may never be recovered, the OIG report signals pressure on the SEC to ensure that similar lapses don’t undermine public confidence again.
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Source: https://coindoo.com/sec-responds-to-report-on-missing-gary-gensler-messages/
