Under the Biden administration, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) achieved record levels of enforcement. It recovered record sums from imposing penalties, had a high count of enforcement actions, and significant numbers of white collar criminals were disbarred from executive board seats. The SEC has secured these accomplishments through effective litigation, emphatic rulemaking, and rigorous enforcement of the law.
Overview, 2020 – 2024
2023:
- 784 enforcement actions, $5 billion in penalties
- Received 18,000 whistleblower tips, breaking the record established in 2021
2022:
- 760 enforcement actions
- Recovered $6.4 billion in penalties (highest ever recorded in a single year)
2021:
- 697 total enforcement actions
- Whistleblower Program reached over $1 Billion in awards
- Received 12,300 whistleblower tips, a record-breaking amount
Rulemaking
- Biden threatened to use his veto power to protect an SEC cyber incident reporting rule that Republicans in the Senate and House wanted to overturn
- Biden’s SEC has engaged in robust regulatory efforts, with Gensler approving 6 more rules than his last two predecessors through their entire tenures in only his first term
- In 2023, the SEC disbarred 133 officers and directors of public companies – the highest number in a decade
Notable Enforcement Actions
- Terraform and Kwon ordered to Pay $4.5 Billion Following Fraud Verdict
- NovaTech charged with $650 Million Crypto Fraud
- SEC charged “New Jersey real estate development firm and Four Executives With $600 Million Ponzi-like Fraud”
- Twenty-five “…advisory firms, broker-dealers, and/or credit rating agencies, including Wells Fargo, HSBC, and Scotia Capital” ordered to pay out over $400 million in monetary relief for regulatory infractions
- SEC Charged “Creator of Global Crypto Ponzi Scheme and Three US Promoters in Connection with $295 Million Fraud”
- Boeing Ordered to “Pay $200 Million to Settle SEC Charges that it Misled Investors about the 737 MAX”
- SEC uncovered a “$194 Million Penny Stock Schemes that Spanned Three Continents”
- Multinational finance corporation Danske Bank was forced to pay out $178.6 million in civil penalties for misleading investors and failing to disclose significant risks in its financial
- SEC Charged “Founder of Frank with Fraud in Connection with $175 Million Sale of Student Loan Assistance Company”
- “JPMorgan Admits to Widespread Recordkeeping Failures and Agrees to Pay $125 Million Penalty to Resolve SEC Charges”
- The SEC charged “Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC for failing to provide complete and accurate securities trading information, known as blue sheet data, to the SEC”
- SEC charged “siblings in $124 Million Crypto Fraud Operation that included Misleading Roadshows, YouTube Videos”
- SEC Charged “Avraham Eisenberg with Manipulating Mango Markets’ ‘Governance Token’ to Steal $116 Million of Crypto Assets”
- BlockFi Agrees to Pay $100 Million in Penalties and Pursue Registration of its Crypto Lending Product
- In 2022, Biden’s SEC imposed a $100 million penalty on Ernst & Young LLP for “cheating on ethics exams and misleading [the federal] investigation”—the largest penalty ever imposed by the SEC on an audit firm
- SEC Filed “Emergency Action Against Miami Investment Adviser BKCoin and Principal Kevin Kang for Orchestrating $100 Million Crypto Fraud Scheme”
- SEC Charged an advisory firm and executives with “Devising an Elaborate Scheme to Defraud Clients out of More Than $75 Million”
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