SEC Announces Enforcement Initiatives to Combat Financial Reporting and Microcap Fraud and Enhance Risk Analysis

The SEC announced three new enforcement related initiatives, consisting of:

• The Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force, which will concentrate on expanding and strengthening the Division's efforts to identify securities-law violations relating to financial statements, issuer reporting and disclosure and audit failures;

• The Microcap Fraud Task Force, which will investigate fraud in the issuance, marketing, and trading of microcap securities; and

• The Center for Risk and Quantitative Analytics, which will support and coordinate the Division's risk identification, risk assessment and data analytics activities.

Andrew J. Ceresney, Co-Director of the Division of Enforcement made a statement that these initiatives highlight the SEC's "proactive approach" and will allow for an increase in the number of cases brought, which will deter "these types of unlawful activity."

See: SEC Press Release.