Late last week, the SEC issued a press release summarizing its enforcement results for the agency's fiscal year 2014, which ended September 30, 2014. The SEC emphasized that it filed a record 755 enforcement actions in FY 2014, and that these cases "included a number of first-ever cases, including actions involving the market access rule, the 'pay-to-play' rule for investment advisers, an emergency action to halt a municipal bond offering, and an action for whistleblower retaliation."

 

In FY 2014, the SEC filed a record 755 enforcement actions and obtained orders totaling $4.16 billion in disgorgement and penalties. By comparison, the SEC filed 686 enforcement actions and obtained orders totaling $3.4 billion in disgorgement and penalties in FY 2013, and filed 734 enforcement actions and obtained orders totaling $3.1 billion in disgorgement and penalties in FY 2012.

The SEC highlighted numerous matters that it brought in FY 2014, including:

Charges against more than 135 parties with violations relating to reporting and disclosure, including Bank of America Corporation; Fifth Third Bancorp; Diamond Foods Inc.; five executives and finance professionals from collapsed law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP; AgFeed Industries Inc.; and CVS Caremark Corp.;

First-ever actions under a rule requiring firms to establish adequate risk controls before providing customers with market access (Knight Capital Americas LLC, and Wedbush Securities Inc.);

Significant enforcement actions against the New York Stock Exchange and brokerage subsidiaries for their failure to comply with exchange rules;

First case against a broker-dealer for failing to protect a customer’s material nonpublic information (Wells Fargo Advisors LLC);

First-ever action under investment adviser “pay-to-play” rule (TL Ventures Inc.);

Nine whistleblower awards totaling approximately $35 million, including the the largest-ever award of $30 million;

First-ever charges ever under new authority to bring anti-retaliation enforcement actions (Paradigm Capital Management);

Charges against 80 people involving trading on the basis of inside information; and

FCPA cases against Alcoa Inc., Weatherford International Ltd., the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, and the Hewlett-Packard Company, and the highest-ever FCPA penalties against individuals (former Siemens executives). 

 

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