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Quick linksAgency Brought Significant Actions in Traditional and Emerging Areas; Whistleblower Program Surpassed $1 Billion in AwardsWashington D.C., Nov. 18, 2021 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed 434 new enforcement actions in fiscal year 2021, representing a 7 percent increase over the prior year. Seventy percent of these new or "stand-alone" actions involved at least one individual defendant or respondent. The new actions spanned the entire securities waterfront, including against emerging threats in the crypto and SPAC spaces. For example, the SEC charged a company for operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange, charged a crypto lending platform and top executives alleging a $2 billion fraud, and brought an action against a special purpose acquisition company, its merger target, top executives, and others for alleged misconduct in a SPAC transaction. The SEC’s whistleblower program was critical to these efforts and had a record-breaking year. The agency filed 697 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2021, including the 434 new actions, 120 actions against issuers who were delinquent in making required filings with the SEC, and 143 "follow-on" administrative proceedings seeking bars against individuals based on criminal convictions, civil injunctions, or other orders. This represented a 3 percent decrease over the total actions filed in fiscal year 2020. "The SEC’s Enforcement Division is the cop on the beat for America’s securities laws," said Chair Gary Gensler. "As these results show, we go after misconduct wherever we find it in the financial system, holding individuals and companies accountable, without fear or favor, across the $100-plus trillion capital markets we oversee." "This year has seen a number of critically important and first-of-their-kind enforcement actions, as well as record-breaking achievements for our whistleblower program, which we expect will lead to even more successful actions in the future," said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. "Undeterred by the challenges of the pandemic, the dedicated public servants in the Enforcement Division have continued to overcome obstacles to bring these cases that protect investors and promote market integrity." In fiscal year 2021, which ended on Sept. 30, the SEC also obtained judgments and orders for nearly $2.4 billion in disgorgement and more than $1.4 billion in penalties, which represented a respective 33 percent decrease and 33 percent increase over amounts ordered in the prior fiscal year in these categories. Fiscal year 2021 also was a record year for whistleblower awards, with the SEC awarding a total of $564 million to 108 whistleblowers. The whistleblower program also surpassed $1 billion in awards over the life of the program. Overview of SEC Enforcement in Fiscal Year 2021 In fiscal year 2021, the SEC filed noteworthy enforcement actions across new areas, including a number of first-of-their-kind actions:
In addition, the SEC filed impactful enforcement actions that spanned the securities markets, including the following matters:
Other examples of enforcement actions in key priority areas include: Holding Individuals Accountable
Ensuring Gatekeepers Live Up to Their Obligations
Rooting Out Misconduct in Crypto
Policing Financial Fraud and Issuer Disclosure
Charging Improper Conduct by Investment Professionals
Protecting Market Integrity
Cracking Down on Insider Trading and Market Manipulation
Enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Guarding Against Public Finance Abuse
Pursuing Wrongdoing in Securities Offerings
Swiftly Acting to Protect Investors
Achieving Success in Litigation
Rewarding and Protecting Whistleblowers
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