SEC Press Releases: The Official Feed and How to Search It

The SEC publishes its own press releases at sec.gov/newsroom, covering enforcement actions, rulemaking, exam priorities and agency announcements in one numbered feed. This guide covers where to find them, how they relate to the SEC's other release types, and how to read one as structured data instead of plain text.

Where the SEC publishes press releases

The SEC's newsroom lists every press release in reverse chronological order, each with a release number in the form YYYY-NNN, for example release 2023-218. The agency also offers email alerts and an RSS feed so you can be notified as new releases are posted, rather than checking the page by hand.

Press releases vs the SEC's other release types

A press release is the SEC's plain-language announcement. It often links out to the underlying legal document, which is published separately under its own numbering and format:

An enforcement press release usually points to one or more of the rows above as backup. If you are researching a specific case, the press release gives you the headline, but the litigation release or administrative proceeding carries the legal detail.

Don't confuse this with Exhibit 99 press releases

A separate and unrelated thing shares the name "press release": public companies routinely attach their own earnings or announcement press releases to an 8-K as Exhibit 99. Those are the company's own words, filed with the SEC as an exhibit, not an SEC press release about the company. If you are looking for what a company announced about itself, that is Exhibit 99 and the matching 8-K item, such as item 2.02 for earnings results, not the SEC's own newsroom feed.

Reading press releases as structured data

Pulling the SEC's press releases as a feed gets you the list and the text, but a press release's actual content, who was charged, what penalty was imposed, which statute was cited, is written as prose. SecFeed exposes the raw feed and a structured layer built from it.

The raw feed returns each release with its title, date and URL:

curl "https://secfeedapi.com/v1/enforcement/press-releases?page=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

For releases that have been processed into structured fields, the enforcement actions endpoint returns the parties, penalties and statutes directly:

curl "https://secfeedapi.com/v1/sec-enforcement-actions?data.releaseNo=2023-218" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

A structured row looks like this:

{
  "id": "PR-2023-218",
  "releaseNo": "2023-218",
  "releasedAt": "2023-10-02",
  "url": "https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023-218",
  "title": "EXAMPLE HEADLINE AS PRINTED",
  "summary": "Neutral summary of what the release announced.",
  "entities": [
    {"name": "EXAMPLE RESPONDENT LLC", "type": "company", "role": "respondent", "ticker": null, "cik": null}
  ],
  "hasAgreedToSettlement": true,
  "penaltyAmounts": [
    {"penaltyAmount": 500000, "penaltyAmountText": "$500,000", "imposedOn": "EXAMPLE RESPONDENT LLC"}
  ],
  "violatedSections": ["Securities Act Section 17(a)"]
}

In Python:

from secfeed import Client

sf = Client("YOUR_API_KEY")
actions = sf.dataset("sec-enforcement-actions", startDate="2026-01-01")
for a in actions:
    print(a["releaseNo"], a["title"], a.get("penaltyAmounts"))

The limits of this data

Structured extraction runs release by release and does not yet cover every historical press release. Treat the raw feed at /v1/enforcement/press-releases as the complete list of what the SEC has published, and the structured fields in /v1/sec-enforcement-actions as filled in progressively, growing as more releases are processed, not a guarantee that any given older release already has parties and penalties attached.

Frequently asked questions

Are SEC press releases the same as enforcement actions?

Not exactly. Many SEC press releases announce an enforcement action, but the press release is the plain-language summary. The legal substance sits in the linked litigation release, administrative proceeding or AAER, and some press releases cover rulemaking or agency news with no enforcement action at all.

How far back do SEC press releases go?

The SEC's newsroom numbers releases by year, and its archive goes back decades. How far back a given search tool or API has indexed them depends on that tool, not on the SEC's own publication history.

Can I get notified when the SEC posts a new press release?

Yes. The SEC offers email alerts and an RSS feed directly from its newsroom. A third-party API that polls the same feed, like SecFeed's EDGAR filing search, can also notify on new filings, but SEC press releases themselves are announcements, not EDGAR filings.

What is the difference between a press release and a litigation release?

A press release is the SEC's own announcement, written for a general audience. A litigation release specifically documents a civil action filed in federal court, with the case name, court and relief sought. A single enforcement matter can have a press release, a litigation release and an administrative proceeding all referring to the same underlying case.

Do SEC press releases cover individual companies filing their own news?

No. A company's own announcements filed with the SEC appear as Exhibit 99 to an 8-K, not in the SEC's newsroom feed. The SEC's own press releases are about the agency's actions, not a company's earnings or business news.