Under Trump, SEC Enforcement Of Insider Trading Dropped To Lowest Point In Decades

The government agency responsible for policing Wall Street brought the fewest number of insider trading cases in decades, according to the most recent available data.

That decline came just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Securities and Exchange Commission now warns that the pandemic has created wild swings in the market and more opportunities for insider trading.

NPR reviewed data from the 1980s through last year and found that under the Trump administration, the SEC brought just 32 insider trading enforcement actions in 2019, the lowest number since 1996.

The SEC charged 46 defendants as part of those cases. That was the lowest number of defendants in insider trading cases since Ronald Reagan was president, and about half of the annual average over the last three decades. The decline has alarmed experts and advocates, who worry that flagrant illegal trading may go unchecked.