The Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into the bankrupt electric vehicle startup Fisker last September. The probe had been open for roughly one year. TechCrunch learned of the closure in January when the SEC responded to a Freedom of Information Act request. The agency’s FOIA department stated it had identified approximately 21.7 gigabytes of records related to the case. The SEC does not typically release records for open investigations, and it confirmed in a follow-up email that the case was closed in September 2025.
It is not clear how far the investigation progressed. The SEC first revealed the probe in an October 2024 filing within Fisker’s bankruptcy proceedings. At that time, the agency noted it had sent subpoenas to the company and might need to request additional documents in the future. A spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment on the matter. Founder and former CEO Henrik Fisker did not respond to a request for comment.
The closure of the Fisker investigation coincides with a significant drop in SEC enforcement activity during President Trump’s second term. The agency initiated 313 enforcement actions in 2025, which marks the lowest number in a decade and a 27% decrease from the final year of President Biden’s term, according to an analysis by the law firm Paul, Weiss. Only four of those actions were against public companies, and total monetary settlements fell 45% from 2024.
Fisker was among the last remaining electric vehicle startups under SEC investigation. In recent years, the agency has settled fraud or other charges with several other companies, including Nikola, Lordstown Motors, Canoo, and Hyzon Motors. In 2023, the SEC also closed an investigation into Lucid Motors without filing a lawsuit.
The only known active investigation into an electric vehicle startup now involves Faraday Future, a probe that is nearly four years old. In July 2025, the SEC sent Faraday Future and several executives “Wells notices,” which inform subjects that investigators are recommending enforcement action. No action has been taken since those notices were sent, and Faraday’s regulatory filings indicate it has not yet formally responded to them.
Fisker filed for bankruptcy in June 2024 following a series of problems with its first vehicle, the Ocean SUV. The company spent years making ambitious promises about developing radical new technologies but pivoted from those ideas multiple times. It also experienced major financial difficulties leading up to its collapse. Through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Fisker sold its remaining inventory of Ocean SUVs to a company that leases vehicles to ride-hail drivers and liquidated its other assets.