by Anat Carmy-Wiechman and Giovanni Patti
Left to right: Anat Carmy-Wiechman and Giovanni Patti (Photos courtesy of authors)
In a new report, the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business, in collaboration with Cornerstone Research, analyzes recent SEC enforcement trends using data from the Securities Enforcement Empirical Database (SEED). The key findings are summarized below.
The SEC Filed 56 Enforcement Actions against Public Companies and Subsidiaries in FY 2025
SEED currently provides data on SEC enforcement actions against public companies and subsidiaries from October 1, 2009, through the present.[1] According to the report, “the SEC initiated 56 actions against public companies and subsidiaries in FY 2025, a decrease of 30% from FY 2024.” In this regard, Professor Stephen Choi, a co-author of the report, highlighted that “SEC enforcement activity in FY 2025 experienced a sharp decline under Chair Atkins. It remains to be seen if this lower level holds and if the types of cases pursued change following his appointment of Judge Ryan as Director of Enforcement.”
Record High Actions Initiated in Q1 FY 2025 and Record Low Actions Initiated in 2H FY 2025
During FY 2025, a change occurred in the SEC’s leadership. Chair Gensler stepped down on January 20, 2025, after which Commissioner Uyeda served as Acting Chair until Chair Atkins was sworn in on April 21, 2025. Although the overall number of actions initiated in FY 2025 is consistent with prior fiscal years that coincided with transitions in SEC leadership, the report highlights notable variation within the fiscal year. Specifically, it shows a record high number of public and subsidiary actions (29) in Q1 FY 2025, before Chair Gensler stepped down, followed by a record low number of such actions (3) in 2H FY 2025 under Acting Chair Uyeda and Chair Atkins. The report also notes a record low number of public company and subsidiary actions in September, the final month of the SEC’s fiscal year.
“Issuer Reporting and Disclosure” Was the Most Prevalent Allegation Type (41%)
The report shows that “Issuer Reporting and Disclosure” remained the most prevalent allegation type against public companies and subsidiaries, accounting for 41% of actions filed in FY 2025. It also highlights that “FY 2025 is the first year in SEED that actions with Investment Adviser/Investment Company and Broker Dealer allegations both exceeded 20% of total actions.” Finally, the report notes that “[t]he SEC initiated nine actions in January as part of Chair Gensler’s off-channel communications sweep.”
Settlements and Cooperation: 73% of Defendants Noted Cooperation with the SEC and 82 Defendants Admitted Guilt
SEED measures three factors as an indication of whether the public company or subsidiary defendant cooperated with the SEC, namely self-reporting, remediation, and the SEC noting cooperation in the settlement announcement. Based on this methodology, the report shows that “[t]he SEC noted cooperation by 73% of public company and subsidiary defendants that settled in FY 2025, higher than the FY 2016–FY 2024 average of 65%.” Relatedly, SEED tracks whether public company and subsidiary defendants admitted guilt in SEC enforcement actions. SEED codes an action as involving an admission of guilt only when the admission appears in the SEC’s own action, rather than in any parallel proceeding. Based on this methodology, the report indicates that “[u]nder Chair Gensler, a total of 82 defendants in public company and subsidiary actions had admissions of guilt, nearly triple those under Chair Mary Jo White (29) and more than nine times those under Chair Jay Clayton (9).”
Settlements and Cooperation: Monetary Settlements Totaled $808 Million in FY 2025
SEED tracks all monetary settlements imposed by the SEC on all types of defendants (including individuals and other entities) in actions against public companies and subsidiaries. The report indicates that the SEC imposed $808 million in monetary settlements in FY 2025 “the lowest since FY 2021 and the second lowest in SEED. This is also less than half of the FY 2016–FY 2024 average total monetary settlement of $1.9 billion.” In addition, the report shows that “[t]he total amount of disgorgement and prejudgment interest ($108 million) was the lowest in any fiscal year in SEED, more than $300 million less than the next lowest total in FY 2012.” Finally, the report indicates that, “[d]espite the Jarkesy decision, in FY 2025 civil penalties for administrative proceedings accounted for the highest percentage of the total monetary settlement for any fiscal year in SEED.”
Footnotes
[1] SEED defines public companies as those that traded on a major U.S. exchange as identified by the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) at the time the enforcement action was initiated, or otherwise within the five-year period preceding the initiation. Thus, public companies that traded over-the-counter or only on major non-U.S. exchanges are excluded, as are companies that did not become publicly traded until after the enforcement action was initiated. SEED defines subsidiaries as those entities that had a publicly traded parent company at the time the enforcement action was initiated, or otherwise within the five-year period preceding the initiation.
Anat Carmy-Wiechman is the Associate Director and a former Wagner Fellow at the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business. Giovanni Patti is the Associate Director of SEED Research at the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business.
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