Thousands of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission employees stepped back into the office Thursday after weeks of forced silence — a return that experts say will ignite at least a month-long scramble to claw through a mountain of suspended cases, frozen investigations, and IPO submissions stacked like aircraft on a jammed runway.
For most of the SEC’s roughly 4,200 furloughed workers, all operations had gone dark. Only 393 employees remained active during the shutdown, tasked with guarding the core integrity of U.S. markets and preventing threats that could jeopardize life, property, or investor trust.
“Throughout the shutdown, essential personnel carried out critical work to protect market stability and hold wrongdoers accountable,” an SEC spokesperson said in an email Thursday. “Now, we will refocus on the most urgent issues affecting American investors and market participants.”
Yet for companies and individuals navigating pre-shutdown dealings with the agency, the work never truly paused — even if no one was on the receiving end.
