Quiet ESG Task Force Still Digging for Fraud, SEC Official Says

SEC enforcement lawyers still are looking for securities fraud tied to environmental, social and governance issues as the agency’s ESG Task Force approaches its third anniversary, a senior commission official said Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission task force was designed as a “clearinghouse of information” without staff focused solely on bringing ESG cases when it launched in March 2021, SEC Enforcement Division Director Gurbir Grewal said. He was responding to a question at a Northwestern University securities conference about the status of the group, which the SEC last directly tied to a case against Deutsche Bank AG in September ...