The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday the launch of an additional tool designed to protect investors.
The SEC Action Lookup for Individuals (SALI) would help identify registered and unregistered individuals who have been parties to past SEC enforcement actions and against whom federal courts have entered judgments or the SEC has issued orders.
“Our Main Street investors themselves are a key line of defense in detecting and preventing fraud,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said. “One of the SEC’s most important tasks is to arm our investors with the tools necessary to identify potential fraudsters. An important risk factor is whether the person you are dealing with has a disciplinary history with the SEC or other regulators.”
Clayton said SALI provides Main Street investors with an additional tool they can use to protect themselves from being victims of fraud and other misconduct.
SEC officials said they are encouraging investors to take advantage of resources at their disposal, such as investor alerts and bulletins, planning tools and answers to frequently asked questions, provided by the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy on Investor.gov.
Officials said SALI search results include parties from SEC actions filed between Oct. 1, 2014, and March 31, 2018. The SEC will update the search feature periodically to add parties from newly-filed actions and actions filed prior to Oct. 1, 2014.