SEC closes investigation into bankrupt electric vehicle startup Fisker

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US financial regulator, closed its investigation into bankrupt electric vehicle startup Fisker in September 2025. The closure of the probe, which occurred roughly one year after it was opened, was revealed when the regulator responded to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in January. According to the SEC’s FOIA department, the agency identified “approximately 21.7 gigabytes of electronically maintained records” related to the investigation. The FOIA department confirmed in a follow-up email that the probe “was closed in September 2025.” The SEC had previously disclosed the existence of the investigation in an October 2024 bankruptcy court filing, noting at the time that it had issued subpoenas to the company and that the agency may need to “request or subpoena additional documents in the future relating to its ongoing investigation.” A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment on the matter, and Henrik Fisker, the founder and former CEO of the startup, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The end of the Fisker probe coincides with a broader shift in US regulatory enforcement. According to an analysis by the law firm Paul, Weiss, the SEC initiated 313 enforcement actions in 2025. This represents the lowest number of enforcement actions in a decade, marking a 27% decline from the final year of President Biden’s term. Furthermore, the law firm reported that only four of those 313 enforcement actions were brought against public companies, while total monetary settlements fell 45% from 2024.

Fisker, which filed for bankruptcy in June 2024, was part of a wave of electric vehicle startups that faced regulatory scrutiny. Several other startups in the sector, including Nikola, Lordstown Motors, Canoo, and Hyzon Motors, previously settled fraud or other charges with the regulator. Additionally, the SEC closed an investigation into Lucid Motors in 2023 without filing a lawsuit. Currently, the only known active SEC investigation into an electric vehicle startup involves Faraday Future. That investigation is nearly four years old. In July 2025, the SEC sent Faraday Future and several of its executives Wells notices—which are letters informing a subject that investigators recommend an enforcement action. No further action has been taken since those notices were issued, and Faraday Future’s regulatory filings indicate it has not yet responded to them.

Why it matters

The closure of the Fisker investigation occurs against a backdrop of declining SEC enforcement activity, with total actions hitting a decade low in 2025.