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The Fox News Rundown

Business Rundown: "Unmuzzled" ... The Man the SEC Silenced Finally Speaks Out

The Fox News Rundown

FOX News Podcasts

Politics, Daily News, News

3.41.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What some see as a victory for "free speech," the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped a controversial “gag rule” that barred defendants who settled SEC cases from publicly defending themselves. Thomas Powell, senior strategist at the Founders Office, has been one of the rules' most vocal critics—even while legally restricted from challenging the allegations against him.Finally able to speak out, Powell and his attorney, Peggy Little of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, join FOX Business Network’s Lydia Hu. They break down how Powell was "muzzled" by the SEC, the damage it did to his life, and what this massive rule change means for American businesses moving forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:51.6

I'm Lydia Who and this is the Fox Business Rundown.

1:00.4

Friday, May 22nd, 2026, silenced by the government for decades.

1:06.6

Now that the SEC finally drops a controversial gag rule, accused business owners can finally tell their side of the story.

1:16.3

When we can't speak against our government and say this process is wrong, and when they can do that to me, where I did have some capital, and I did have an education, and I did have a team of lawyers behind me. They can do it

1:29.2

to anyone. For decades, Americans accused of wrongdoing by the securities and exchange commission

1:36.4

say they were effectively muzzled by the government. Thousands of defendants who chose to settle

1:42.6

SEC cases were required to sign so-called no-deny agreements,

1:48.5

deals that barred them from publicly disputing the government's allegations even after their cases were closed.

1:56.3

Critics called it the SEC's gag rule.

1:59.7

Supporters said it helped protect the integrity of settlements.

2:03.1

But this week, in a major reversal, the SEC rescinded the decades-old policy.

2:09.3

SEC Chair Paul Atkins framed the move as a free speech issue. Others are asking, why did it take so long? Thomas Powell has been one of the most vocal

2:20.8

critics of the rule, even while he was legally restricted from publicly challenging the allegations

2:26.4

against him. Until now, for the first time Powell can speak freely about the case, he says,

2:33.5

cost him millions of dollars, his business,

2:36.4

his reputation, and sparked an eight-year fight to change the rule. I will tell you that we're still

2:42.2

a little nervous about the way even the press release and the actual release from the government

...

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