U.S. securities regulators obtain significant amounts of financial recovery orders from enforcement actions filed against actors accused of abusive trading practices.
In a statement, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it initiated a total of 784 enforcement actions during fiscal year 2023, marking a 3% increase from last year.
The legal actions resulted in financial recovery orders worth $4.949 billion, the second highest in the agency’s history after last year’s record $6.4 billion. The amount includes $3.369 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $1.580 billion in civil penalties.
The securities watchdog says it has also paid out nearly $1 billion to harmed investors and awarded nearly $600 million for its whistleblower program through 2023, the most awarded by the SEC in a single year.
Says Gurbir S. Grewal, SEC Division of Enforcement Director:
“Whether it was by leveraging risk-based initiatives, seeking robust solutions, rewarding collaboration, protecting whistleblowers or returning nearly a billion dollars to harmed investors, the Enforcement Division stood up for the investing audience.”
The regulator also sees 2023 as a productive and impactful year for enforcement actions related to crypto assets. The SEC says it went after a range of misconduct in the space, such as billions of dollars worth of crypto fraud, illegal celebrity advertising and unregistered offerings of crypto assets, platforms and intermediaries.
“In fiscal year 2023, the division’s investigation resulted in legal charges alleging massive crypto fraud, including charges against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon; Richard Heart and three entities he controls, Hex, PulseChain and PulseX; FTX CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives.”
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