SEC enforcement actions involving advisers jump in 2018

Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions involving registered investment advisers and investment companies increased 31.7% for its fiscal year ending in September, according to the SEC enforcement division report on its annual results. The SEC reported 108 stand-alone enforcement actions in 2018 involving investment advisers and companies, compared to 82 in the previous fiscal year. The SEC issued 490 total stand-alone enforcement actions in 2018. Such actions covered a dozen areas, with the largest amount of cases related to securities offerings — at 121. The number of SEC actions against investment advisers and investment companies came in second. Cases against broker-dealers came in fourth — at 63. The report listed four noteworthy enforcement actions it brought over the past year against four Ponzi schemes that had a direct impact on retail investors and totaled $1.73 billion in investor money. Those actions included charges last December against Robert H. Shapiro and the Woodbridge Group of Companies in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. The SEC in August also charged five unregistered brokers who sold the Woodbridge securities to retail investors. Mr. Shapiro, the former chief executive of Woodbridge, agreed on Thursday to pay $120 million to the SEC to settle allegations he defrauded investors in the real estate Ponzi scheme that drove his company into bankruptcy. Mr. Shapiro didn't admit or deny the allegations. The SEC said it had returned almost $800 million to harmed investors and remained focused on a handful of basic principles, which included Main Street investors, individual accountability and keeping up with technology. The Enforcement Division created a "retail strategy task force" in fiscal 2018 and focused on issues such as disclosures concerning fees and expenses and conflicts of interest for managed accounts, market manipulations, and fraud involving unregistered offerings, according to the report.