Trump’s SEC Chair Has Scored a Massive Tax Break
Donald Trump’s SEC chair, Paul Atkins, just sold his financial services firm for more than $25 million and is set to receive a huge tax break on the proceeds. He has refused to disclose who is behind the payout or if they have business with the SEC.

Paul Atkins during a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2025. (Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, Wall Street’s top cop, just sold his financial services firm for more than $25 million — and is set to receive a massive tax break on the proceeds, according to new federal ethics disclosures obtained by the Lever.
Paul Atkins, who spent years helping Wall Street actors fend off federal regulators, has refused to disclose who’s behind his tax-free payout or whether his benefactors have business before the agency he now runs, even after lawmakers suggested the deal resembled a “pre-bribe.”
Atkins, a former SEC commissioner and corporate lawyer who has established himself in recent years as a trusted Wall Street consultant, assumed the top role at the SEC in April. He is now the wealthiest SEC chair in history, with an estimated net worth of $327 million between him and his spouse.