SEC Top Enforcer Says Tougher Penalties Are Working

One thing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s top cop promised when he took the job was increased enforcement and a crackdown on repeat offenders. More than two years later, he says the numbers so far prove the strategy works. 

Under Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, the agency has brought a record number of actions. In the year ended Sept. 30, the SEC imposed financial remedies of about $5 billion through 784 enforcement actions, second only to the record set the year before at $6.44 billion in monetary penalties.