The SEC announced that, in fiscal year 2014, new investigative approaches and an innovative use of data and analytical tools contributed to a record filing of 755 enforcement actions and $4.16 billion in disgorgement and penalties. The agency's enforcement actions also included a number of first-ever cases, including actions involving (i) the market access rule, (ii) the "pay-to-play" rule for investment advisers, (iii) halting a municipal bond offering (an emergency action) and (iv) whistleblower retaliation. Chair White noted that, in addition to the first-ever cases, the Municipalities

The SEC Division of Corporation Finance issued no-action relief to Staple Cotton Discount Corporation in connection with the unregistered offer and sale of demand notes in reliance on Section 3(a)(5)(A) of the Securities Act. In its request for relief, Staple Cotton Discount Corporation alleged that it was both a "cooperative bank" and "similar institution" within the meaning of Section 3(a)(5)(A), which exempts from registration the securities issued by both kinds of entities. See: SEC No-Action Letter to Staple Cotton Discount Corporation.

The SEC sanctioned a high-frequency trading firm for placing a large number of rapid-fire trades in the final two seconds of almost every trading day during a six-month period to manipulate the closing prices of thousands of NASDAQ-listed stocks. An SEC investigation found that Athena Capital Research used an algorithm to engage in "marking the close"; i.e., stocks were either bought or sold near the close of trading to affect the closing price. The massive volumes of Athena's last-second trades allowed the firm to overwhelm the market's available liquidity, and to push the market price and

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") announced an extension of previous no-action relief that provided additional time for futures commission merchants ("FCMs") to comply with CFTC rules requiring FCMs to obtain acknowledgement letters from certain depositories. CFTC rules require that an FCM deposit customer funds only with depositories that have provided it with an acknowledgement letter in which such depositories agree to provide the DSIO Director with direct, read-only electronic access to transaction and account balance information for FCM customer accounts

The CFTC announced that it revoked the registration of iFinix Futures, Inc. ("iFinix"), which had been registered with the CFTC as an independent introducing broker, following a permanent injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Judgment Officer's Initial Decision on Default, revoking the registration of iFinix, became a final order of the CFTC on October 8, 2014. See: CFTC Press Release. Related news: CFTC Obtains Default Judgment against iFinix Futures, Inc. and Its Senior Executive Officer (September 26, 2013); Proceedings before the Commodity Futures