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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority imposed $154 million in fines, restitution and disgorgement in 2025, a 77% increase from the $87 million in total sanctions ordered in 2024, according to an analysis by Eversheds Sutherland released this week.
The total number of cases reported by FINRA decreased last year, following a trend over the past several years, the law firm said, with FINRA reporting 431 disciplinary actions in 2025, a 22% decrease from the 552 disciplinary actions it reported in 2024, according to the analysis.
Brian Rubin and Adam Pollet, Eversheds Sutherland partners, based their analysis on reviews of FINRA's monthly disciplinary reports, news releases and online databases.
The fines reported by FINRA in 2025 increased to $75 million from $59 million in 2024, a 27% increase, Eversheds said.
"The fines in 2025, however, included a single $26 million fine against one firm. Without that one large fine, 2025's total fines would have been $50 million, or 15% less than in 2024," the analysis states.
FINRA fined Robinhood Financial $26 million in March 2025 for violations including failure to supervise paid social media influencers, respond to red flags and verify customer identities.
Although total FINRA fines were up in 2025, "the amount of restitution ordered by FINRA in 2025 was down," the analysis states.
FINRA ordered restitution of about $15 million, which was down 35% from the $23 million in restitution ordered in 2024, Eversheds said. Only $6 million of the restitution ordered in 2025 was tied to cases of $1 million or more.
The number of cases with very large fines, or "supersized" fines, also decreased in 2025.
"FINRA ordered 10 fines of $1 million or more in 2025, compared with 15 such fines in 2024," the analysis states.
Here are the top five enforcement issues in 2025 by total fines assessed. The totals do not include the Robinhood fine, which spanned several categories.
5. Regulation Best Interest
FINRA reported 47 cases involving Reg BI, resulting in total fines of $4.3 million. In one matter, FINRA found that Webull Financial had, among other things, failed to timely deliver Form CRS to certain customers; make and preserve related records; and establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system reasonably designed to achieve compliance with its Form CRS obligations, and fined the firm $1.6 million.
4. Record-Keeping
FINRA reported 22 record-keeping cases in 2025, resulting in a total of about $5.1 million in fines. Although many of these cases involved failure to prepare net capital and customer reserve computation accurately, some of the larger fines also involved failing to maintain and/or review electronic communications.
3. Trade Reporting
These cases appeared for the sixth consecutive year. FINRA reported 35 trade reporting cases in 2025, resulting in a total of about $5.9 million in fines. In the largest trade reporting case, FINRA fined Goldman Sachs $1.4 million for inaccurately reporting 36.6 billion order events to the Consolidated Audit Trail and failing to reasonably supervise its compliance with the CAT program.
2. Misleading, Inaccurate or Unbalanced Communications
This is the first time in the past five years that communication issues have appeared on the list. FINRA reported 12 misleading communication cases in 2025, resulting in a total of about $6.5 million in fines. These cases dealt with a variety of communications, including the use of social media and communications regarding crypto assets.
1. Anti-Money Laundering
These cases resulted in the most fines for FINRA in 2025, the third time in the past five years that AML cases have been on the Eversheds Sutherland list. FINRA reported 17 cases involving AML in 2025, resulting in a total of about $6.5 million in fines.
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