CASE: Chairman Gensler - It's Time to Release the OIG Report on William Hinman

The SEC's Office of Inspector General sent its report to Chairman's office long ago, taxpayers should know what the investigation found

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With less than two weeks remaining in Gary Gensler's tenure as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) we are – literally - calling on him to release the Inspector General's report into then-SEC Director William Hinman's potential ethics violations related to cryptocurrency policy, and a speech he gave in June 2018. We encourage others who agree that transparency at the SEC is critical to reestablishing the public's trust to call Chairman Gensler's office at (202) 551-2100 and ask him to release an unredacted version of the OIG's report on Mr. Hinman.

"Chairman Gensler needs to release the OIG's Report on Mr. Hinman's activity leading up to and after his speech that introduced the nebulous – and still yet to be defined - 'decentralized' standard for cryptocurrency regulation in the United States," said Matthew Kandrach, President of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE). "We have seen a lot of evidence through various FOIA requests that points to potential nefarious motivations Mr. Hinman may have had for giving his speech. Taxpayers have the right to know whether Mr. Hinman was acting in the best interest of Americans or in the best interest of his law firm and their clients."

SEC leadership, including Mr. Hinman, at the time attempted to construct a rhetorical Gordian knot by pointing to a meaningless disclaimer at the beginning of Mr. Hinman's speech which said that the speech was his "personal opinion" and not that of the SEC, but then Mr. Hinman used the pronoun "we" throughout – to indicate group, not individual, think. And later, SEC leadership consistently pointed back to the speech as guidance in public settings.

Last month, a reporter from The Center Square broke the story that the SEC's OIG had sent its report on Mr. Hinman to Chairman Gensler's office. To date, it has not been publicly released.

Interested individuals should call Mr. Gensler's office at (202) 551-2100 to politely and respectfully ask for an unredacted version of the OIG's report on Mr. Hinman. You can also email Chairman Gensler at [email protected].

SOURCE Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE)