U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins urging him to disclose who purchased his consulting firm, Patomak Global Partners, and the sale amount, and to provide additional records on other investments he has divested since becoming SEC Chair. The letter cites conflict-of-interest concerns given Atkins’s prior role as Patomak’s founder and chief executive officer for 16 years and its work for clients regulated by the SEC, including banks, credit unions, fintechs, derivative clearing organizations, futures commission merchants, insurance companies, banking-as-a-service firms, and non-bank consumer lenders. Warren pointed to publicly available Office of Government Ethics filings that show documentation confirming divestments but do not identify buyers or transaction values, and argued that fuller disclosure is needed to ensure divestments are not a mechanism for purchasing access to the SEC Chair. Warren requested information on the status of Atkins’s divestments by August 18, 2025.
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs 2025-08-06
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs urges SEC Chair Paul Atkins to disclose buyer of Patomak Global Partners and provide divestment records
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to disclose details of the sale of his consulting firm, Patomak Global Partners, and provide records of other divestments since his appointment. Warren raised conflict-of-interest concerns due to Atkins's previous role at Patomak and its work with SEC-regulated clients. She emphasized the need for transparency to ensure divestments are not used to gain access to the SEC Chair.