In March 2015, in testimony before the US Congress, the Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement outlined the SEC's enforcement priorities, which include the following:
- financial reporting, accounting and disclosure;
- investment advisers;
- market structure, exchanges and broker-dealers;
- municipal securities and public pensions;
- insider trading;
- microcap fraud/pyramid schemes;
- complex financial instruments;
- gatekeepers; and
- the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").
For further information, the Director's testimony can be found here:
http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/031915-test.html.
In January 2015, we published our Securities Enforcement 2014 Year-End Review.
Fiscal year 2014 proved to be another eventful and record-breaking year for the SEC's Division of Enforcement. Indeed, the SEC recently described the fiscal year, which ended on 30 September 2014, as a "very strong year" for enforcement, and by certain measures it certainly was. This description of the SEC's performance and approach, however, is not without controversy as various aspects of the SEC's enforcement approach have been criticised in some quarters, including by certain of the SEC's own commissioners.
Our Securities Enforcement 2014 Year-End Review is available at:
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