The Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into bankrupt electric vehicle startup Fisker last September, about a year after the investigation began.
TechCrunch learned that the investigation was closed when the financial regulator responded to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in January. The SEC’s FOIA division said it had located “approximately 21.7 gigabytes of electronically maintained records” related to the investigation. The agency typically does not have records if investigations are still open and explained in a follow-up email that it was “closed in September 2025.”
It is unclear how far the investigation has progressed. The SEC disclosed the existence of the probe in an October 2024 filing in Fisker’s bankruptcy case. The agency wrote at the time that it had subpoenaed the company and may need to “request or request additional documents in the future related to its ongoing investigation.”
A spokesman for the agency declined to comment. Founder and former CEO Henrik Fisker did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The closure of the Fisker investigation comes amid a significant drop in enforcement actions and settlements during President Trump’s second term. The Securities and Exchange Commission launched 313 enforcement actions in 2025 — the lowest in a decade and down 27% from President Biden’s final year in office, according to an analysis by the Paul, Weiss law firm. Only four of these enforcement actions involved public companies. Total currency settlements reduced by 45% from 2024.
Fisker was one of the last remaining electric vehicle startups investigated by the SEC. In recent years, the agency has settled allegations of fraud or other charges NikolaLordstown Motors, Canoo, Hyzon Motorsand more. In 2023, that investigation closed to Lucid Motors without suing.
The only known active research left for an electric vehicle startup is that of Faraday Future, which is now nearly four years old. In July 2025, the SEC sent Faraday and several executives “Wells notices,” or letters informing a subject that investigators are recommending an enforcement action. However, no action has been taken since those letters were sent, and Faraday’s regulatory filings show it has yet to respond to Wells’ notices.
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Fisker filed for bankruptcy in June 2024 amid a series of problems with its first EV, the Ocean SUV. The company has spent years making bold promises to develop radical new technologies, but has turned away from those ideas many times. It also had major financial problems in the run-up to its collapse. It used the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to sell its remaining stock in Oceans for a company that leases vehicles to drivers and liquidate its other assets.
