The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced a record-breaking enforcement performance during the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, which spanned from October through December 2024. Based on preliminary data, the SEC filed 200 enforcement actions during this period, including 118 standalone cases. This represents the highest number of actions filed in a first quarter since at least 2000.
The Division of Enforcement reported filing 75 cases in October 2024 alone, setting a new monthly record. These actions addressed a broad spectrum of securities violations, including financial misstatements, misleading disclosures to brokerage customers, conflicts of interest at advisory firms, bribery schemes, retail investor frauds, and deceptive claims about artificial intelligence technologies.
“Investors and issuers alike benefit from the Commission’s efforts to hold wrongdoers accountable,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “I’m proud of the incredible work of the Division of Enforcement and colleagues across the agency to track down misconduct and protect the investing public.”
Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the Division of Enforcement, highlighted the momentum as unparalleled in his two-decade tenure at the SEC. “As these impressive figures reflect, the Division has not taken its foot off the pedal in the new fiscal year,” he said. “The hard work of the dedicated staff, with assistance from across the agency, has resulted in the busiest start to a fiscal year that I have witnessed, providing invaluable protections to investors and promoting fairness and integrity in the securities markets.”
The SEC also reaffirmed its focus on crediting entities that self-police, self-report, remediate, and cooperate with investigations. Early figures for the second quarter suggest sustained productivity, with more than 40 actions filed from January 1 through January 17, 2025.
The SEC emphasized that these figures are preliminary and subject to finalization at the agency’s fiscal year-end.