The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set a new record for penalties and fines from enforcement actions in fiscal year 2024 — primarily due to a massive settlement with Cryptocurrency company Terraform Labs.
The agency collected $8.2 billion in financial measures for the year ending September 30 — “the highest amount in SEC history,” according to an annual report on November 22 — despite the number of cases decreasing by 26% from the previous year to 583.
More than half of the total came from the SEC's court victory against Terraform and former CEO Do Kwon, who paid a $4.47 billion settlement after being found responsible for fraud in the collapse of their blockchain ecosystem in 2022, causing billions of dollars in losses.
Without the penalties from Terraform, the SEC would have only collected $3.72 billion, which would make the fiscal year the worst year for financial measures since 2013, when they collected $3.4 billion in penalties and fines.
See also: Gensler and the SEC cost Cryptocurrency companies $426 million
The total penalties and fines from the SEC for 2024 increased by 65.5% from 2023. Source: SEC
In total, the agency collected $2.1 billion in penalties and a record $6.1 billion in illegal proceeds returned to harmed investors.
“The enforcement staff is a steadfast police force, following the truth and the law wherever they lead to hold wrongdoers accountable,” outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.
This record year closes out nearly four years of Gensler's tenure, as he will step down on January 20, 2025 — the same day President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated.
Under Gensler's leadership, the SEC has taken a tough stance against Cryptocurrency companies, with the number of enforcement actions related to Cryptocurrency peaking last year at 46 cases.
The number of cases related to Cryptocurrency dropped to 11 in 2024, but penalties related to the SEC's Cryptocurrency actions soared over 3,000% due to the Terraform settlement.
The U.S. Cryptocurrency industry is hoping the SEC's crackdown will end as Trump has promised to ease regulatory enforcement in the sector. Pantera's Chief Legal Advisor, Katrina Paglia, said last week that she expects the SEC's Cryptocurrency lawsuits to 'quietly fade away' as Trump begins his second and final term.
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