The SEC’s Division of Enforcement issued its yearly report for fiscal year 2019 on November 6th. This report explores the division’s efforts and initiatives on the behalf of investors. It also highlights significant actions and presents both qualitative and quantitative perspectives on the actions of the division during the previous fiscal year.
As in previous years, the report focuses on rooting out misconduct that can do significant harm to investors and United States markets. Five core principles guide the Division’s actions:
- focusing on the Main Street investor
- focusing on individual accountability
- keeping pace with technological change
- imposing remedies that further enforcement goals in an effective way
- constantly assessing the allocation of resources
To those ends, the SEC brought a diverse mix of 862 enforcement actions in 2019, 526 of which being standalone actions. The actions encompassed a broad range of issues, including issuer disclosure/accounting violations, auditor misconduct, investment advisory issues, securities offerings, market manipulation, insider trading, and broker-dealer misconduct. $4.3 billion in disgorgement and penalties was obtained by the SEC through judgments and orders. Roughly $1.2 billion of that amount was returned to harmed investors.
The entirety of the 2019 report can be read here.
Sources:
SEC Division of Enforcement Publishes Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2019 (www.sec.gov)
Enforcement Division Annual Report - FY19 (www.sec.gov)
