SEC actions against public companies, subsidiaries up sharply

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed 91 actions against public companies and subsidiaries in fiscal year 2023, a 34% increase over the prior fiscal year, says a report issued Wednesday.

The results were buoyed by activity in September, the last month of FY 2023, when the agency filed 31 actions, or 34% of the total, according to the report issued by Boston-based Cornerstone Research and the New York University Pollack Center for Law & Business. 

The report is based on data from the Securities Enforcement Empirical Database, a collaboration between the center and Cornerstone.

Despite the increase in filings, total monetary settlements fell to $1.3 billion, the smallest total in the last eight fiscal years, and 70% of the average monetary settlement of $1.9 billion for the FY 20014-FY2022 period, according to the report.

The median monetary settlement in FY2023 was $4 million, matching the median for FY 2014-FY2022, the report said.

Of the new actions filed against public companies and subsidiaries in FY2023, 69% included at least one cooperating public company or subsidiary, while there were admissions of guilt by 16% of defendants, it said.