SEC Reports Its Second-Biggest Fine Total Ever for 2023

The SEC also obtained orders barring 133 individuals from serving as officers and directors of public companies, the highest number of officer and director bars obtained in a decade.

In addition, the SEC reported that it distributed $930 million to harmed investors in fiscal year 2023, marking the second consecutive year with more than $900 million in distributions.

“The investing public benefits from the Division of Enforcement’s work as a cop on the beat,” said SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in a statement. “Last fiscal year’s results demonstrate yet again the Division’s effectiveness — working alongside colleagues throughout the agency — in following the facts and the law wherever they lead to hold wrongdoers accountable.”

Fiscal 2023 was also a record-breaking year for the SEC’s Whistleblower Program, the agency said.

The agency issued whistleblower awards totaling nearly $600 million, the “most ever awarded in one year,” including a record-breaking $279 million awarded to one whistleblower.

The commission received more than 18,000 whistleblower tips in fiscal 2023, approximately 50% more than the then-record 12,300 whistleblower tips received in fiscal 2022. The SEC received more than 40,000 tips, complaints, and referrals in total, a 13% increase over fiscal 2022.