In prior blogs, I’ve criticized the SEC’s longstanding practice of publicly trumpeting every enforcement victory on its website while remaining silent about its defeats. In a recent LinkedIn post, David Chaiken pointed out that last week, the SEC departed from that practice when it issued a litigation release announcing the dismissal of enforcement proceedings against the former CEO of FirstEnergy. The release was short, direct, and didn’t pull any punches:

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on June 27, 2026, the Honorable J. Philip Calabrese, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, granted a motion to dismiss filed by Defendant Charles E. Jones.

On September 12, 2024, the SEC filed a complaint against Jones, the former CEO of FirstEnergy Corp.

In granting the motion to dismiss, the court found that the Commission’s complaint, as alleged, did not state a claim against Jones for violations of federal securities laws.

The Atkins SEC’s rulemaking and enforcement decisions have been controversial, to say the least, but I think everyone should applaud its transparency about the outcome in this case. A regulatory agency in a democracy should be more concerned about being transparent when it comes to its enforcement program than it is about cheerleading for it. I think it’s fitting that the announcement was made just before the 4th of July, and I hope this becomes a standard practice.

– John Jenkins