SEC Enforcement Actions Jumped 9% in 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that it filed 760 enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022, a 9% increase over the prior year.

These included 462 new, or “stand alone,” enforcement actions, a 6.5% increase over fiscal year 2021.

Of the actions, 129 were against issuers who were allegedly delinquent in making required filings with the SEC; and 169 “follow-on” administrative proceedings seeking to bar or suspend individuals from certain functions in the securities markets based on criminal convictions, civil injunctions, or other orders, the agency reported.

The SEC’s stand-alone enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022 ran the gamut of conduct, from “first-of-their-kind” actions to cases charging traditional securities law violations.

Money ordered in SEC actions, comprising civil penalties, disgorgement, and pre-judgment interest, totaled $6.439 billion, “the most on record in SEC history and up from $3.852 billion in fiscal year 2021,” the SEC said.