On November 15th, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement announced that in fiscal year 2022, it saw a great deal of critical, first-of-their-kind enforcement actions to further attempt to protect investors and promote market integrity.
The following are examples of enforcement actions in key priority areas:
- protecting U.S. investors and prevent future misconduct
- robust enforcement of compliance violations
- parallel investigation with criminal law enforcement
- rewarding and protecting whistleblowers
- focus on gatekeepers
To those ends, the SEC reported a considerable number of actions brought in fiscal year 2022, including the following:
- 760 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022, an increase of 9% over the prior year
- 462 new, stand alone enforcement actions, an increase of 6.5% over fiscal year 2021
- 129 actions against issuers who may have been delinquent in making required filings with the SEC
- 169 follow-on administrative proceedings seeking to bar or suspend individuals from certain functions in the securities markets based on criminal convictions, civil injunctions, or other orders
The SEC also obtained judgments and orders in fiscal year 2022 that totaled $6.439 billion, the largest recorded amount in SEC history. This is an increase from $3.852 billion in fiscal year 2021. More specifically, money ordered in these actions included:
- civil penalties of $4.194 billion, the highest on record
- disgorgement and pre-judgment interest of $2.245 billion, down 6% from fiscal year 2021
- recordkeeping violations committed by firms for $1.235 billion in penalties
Also, in fiscal year 2022, the SEC filed notable enforcement actions across new areas, including actions regarding:
- market and public finance abuses
- misuse of complex products and strategies
- investment advisory fraud
- securities fraud
- registration violations
Finally, the SEC noted that fiscal year 2022 was the agency’s second highest year ever in whistleblower awards, with regards to both the number of individuals awarded and the total dollar amounts awarded.
For more information on the SEC’s enforcement results for fiscal year 2022 or further breakdown of fiscal year 2022 enforcement statistics, visit sec.gov.
Source:
SEC Announces Enforcement Results for FY22 (sec.gov)
