Venable partner George Kostolampros was quoted in an article in the November 15, 2016, issue of Bloomberg BNA's Securities Law Daily about how the SEC enforcement activity is at a record high. The SEC actions against public companies or their subsidiaries have grown exponentially over the last four fiscal years, according to a NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business and Cornerstone Research report released Nov. 15.
Such lawsuits increased 130 percent from fiscal 2013 to fiscal 2016, compared to a 61 percent increase in all independent or stand-alone enforcement actions, according to the report. In fiscal 2016 alone, there were 92 actions against public company-related defendants, representing the highest number for any fiscal year in an NYU and Cornerstone database dating back to Oct. 2009. Of all of the independent enforcement actions filed this year, 17 percent named public company-related defendants.
The rising statistic is attributable to SEC Chairman Mary Jo White's renewed focus on investigating financial reporting and accounting fraud at public companies, said Kostolampros.