The actions included the largest number ever of cases involving investment advisers or investment companies (160) and the most ever independent or standalone cases involving investment advisers or investment companies (98).  The agency also reached new highs for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)-related enforcement actions (21) and money distributed to whistleblowers ($57m/£46m) in a single year.

The agency brought a record 548 standalone or independent enforcement actions and obtained judgments and orders totaling more than $4bn in disgorgement and penalties.

Mary Jo White, SEC chair, said: ‘Over the last three years, we have changed the way we do business on the enforcement front by using new data analytics to uncover fraud, enhancing our ability to litigate tough cases, and expanding the playbook bringing novel and significant actions to better protect investors and our markets.’

Amongst examples of where the SEC held attorneys, accountants and other gatekeepers accountable for failures to comply with professional standards are actions against auditing firms for violating auditor independence rules, including two Grant Thornton firms and EY. The EY case was the first time the regulator had taken action against an audit firm over claims of its auditors having too close a personal relationship with clients. 

In the second non-independence case against a major audit firm since 2009, the SEC charged Grant Thornton and two of its partners with ignoring red flags and fraud risks while conducting deficient audits of two publicly traded companies that the SEC had separately charged with improper accounting and other violations.

Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, said: ‘This has been a strong year for the enforcement division, with groundbreaking insider trading and FCPA cases and other important actions across the full spectrum of the securities laws.’