Gary Gensler, the former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman for the Biden administration, has been caught wiping his government-issued cellphone of all official text messages.

This comes, according to the Daily Caller, from the commission's own watchdog, which conducted an investigation of the matter, which unfolded amid a broader probe of Wall Street firms accused of improper data deletions.

The big question, of course, is why would Gensler feel the need to delete these messages. Was, for example, he trying to cover something up?

$MMTLP

SEC Loses Nearly a Year of Gary Gensler’s Texts Due to “Avoidable Errors” in Device Wipe

Look at the dates
October 18, 2022–September 6, 2023

These "avoidable errors" deleted almost a year's worth of text messages from former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's government… pic.twitter.com/6ppTK4BKjp

— kristen shaughnessy (@kshaughnessy2) September 5, 2025

Here's what we know:

The Washington Examiner covers the watchdog's recently released report.

Per the outlet:

A report released Thursday said Gensler’s government-issued smartphone stopped communicating with the SEC’s device management system in July 2023. The problem went unnoticed, and in August 2023, the agency’s Office of Information Technology implemented a new “45-day wipe” policy for devices flagged as inactive.

As a result of this policy, Gensler's phone ended up being wiped in September 2023.

The outlet continues:

On Sept. 6, 2023, the policy triggered a wipe of Gensler’s phone. Staff then performed a factory reset, erasing text messages and operating system logs. The device had not been backed up since Oct. 18, 2022, leaving messages from nearly a year unrecoverable.

The Examiner adds, "The inspector general found the episode was “avoidable,” citing missed alerts, inappropriate use of emergency change procedures, lack of backups, and insufficient coordination with the vendor over known technical issues."

The SEC responds

The SEC has released a statement on the report. It has to be remembered, though, that the commission is now in the hands of the Trump administration.

An SEC spokesperson said:

When Chairman Atkins was briefed on this matter, he immediately directed staff to examine and fully understand what occurred and to take steps that will prevent it from happening again. Transparency is paramount. Taxpayers and those regulated by the Commission must have full confidence in our work.

"Atkins" is Paul Atkins, the man whom Trump has chosen to lead the commission.

Following the release of the report, Atkins is said to be working to ensure that nothing like this happens again -- or, at least, not under his watch.

Whether there will be any punishment for Gensler seems unlikely. The underlying investigation, involving banks and a host of other financial industry entities, that led to the discovery of Gensler's misconduct, however, has resulted in the imposition of over $2 billion in penalties.