During in fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated 80 enforcement actions against public companies and subsidiaries. While this is 12 percent less than 2023, it is nearly 5 percent higher than the nine-year historical average, according to a recent Cornerstone Research and the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business report.
The report analyzes information from the Securities Enforcement Empirical Database, a database that tracks and records SEC enforcement actions filed against public companies traded on major U.S. exchanges and their subsidiaries.
Other fiscal year highlights include:
Monetary settlements totaled $1.5 billion with the average monetary settlement for defendants totaling $15 million. Fifteen percent of monetary settlements were from disgorgement and prejudgment interest in civil actions.
Thirty-four companies admitted guilt while 75 percent of defendants settled actions. Five percent that cooperated did not pay a monetary settlement.
“SEC officials have emphasized that admissions of guilt are a powerful accountability measure,” Sara Gilley, a report coauthor, said. “Former Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement Gurbir Grewal indicated that the SEC brought more cases involving admissions of guilt than in prior years to enhance accountability.”
The SEC imposed $784 million in civil penalties in administrative proceedings that accounting for 54 percent of total monetary settlements.