The Securities and Exchange Commission engaged in an unprecedented crackdown on investment advisers over the last year, contributing to an overall surge in agency enforcement. The SEC announced today that it filed 146 enforcement actions against investment advisers and investment companies during the 2011 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. That number represents a 30% increase over the previous fiscal year and a nearly 200% increase since 2002, when the SEC filed 52 cases.
The SEC took 112 enforcement actions against broker-dealers, a 60% boost from fiscal year 2010. Overall, the SEC filed 735 enforcement actions, also a record number. The cases resulted in disgorgements and penalties totaling $2.806 billion.