Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > SEC

'All Cases Are Important,' SEC's Gensler Says

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Wednesday that “all cases are important,” noting that the agency works “quickly to seek penalties and prophylactic relief to keep bad actors out of the markets.”

Speaking at the Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington, Gensler stated that the SEC looks at “high-impact cases.”

“When you’re a victim of fraud, misconduct, and abuse, the highest-impact case is the one that affects you — whether you lost $20,000 due to affinity fraud or your life savings in a crypto-related scam,” Gensler said.

He told the audience of securities attorneys to work with their “clients to create a culture of proactive compliance.”

In fiscal year 2023, the SEC filed more than 780 actions, including more than 500 standalone cases, Gensler reported. The agency obtained judgments and orders totaling $5 billion, Gensler said, which led to $930 million distributed to harmed investors.

There are also cases, Gensler continued, “that will garner the attention of lawyers, compliance officers, and the like, far beyond this room — and yes, often get reported by the press. They help change behavior and bring greater compliance with the law.”

Off-Channel Communications

Gensler highlighted recordkeeping obligations, noting that since the 1930s, recordkeeping has “been vital to market integrity and the SEC’s oversight.”

At a fundamental level, Gensler stated, “failures in recordkeeping — like those involving off-channel communications — obstruct such market integrity.”

Since December 2021, “in part through an ongoing sweep for potential violations,” the SEC, Gensler said, has “brought cases against 40 firms, required significant undertakings, and ordered more than $1.5 billion in penalties.”

In the last fiscal year alone, Gensler said, the SEC “settled recordkeeping-related charges with 23 firms.”

Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in separate comments Wednesday at the Securities Enforcement Forum that in each of the recent actions brought related to off-channel communications, “the firms at issue had the right policies and procedures but they didn’t have the implementation and execution” of those policies and procedures.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.