On September 27, 2022, the SEC announced charges against affiliates of 11 financial institutions (15 broker-dealers and one investment adviser) for allegedly failing to maintain and preserve electronic communications and allegedly failing to reasonably supervise from January 2018 through September 2021.
See SEC Press Release 2022-174 (Sept. 27, 2022). On the same day, the CFTC announced charges against affiliates of the same 11 financial institutions for allegedly failing to maintain, preserve, or produce required records, and allegedly failing to supervise matters related to their businesses as swap dealers and futures commission merchants.
See CFTC Release Number 8599-22 (Sept. 27, 2022). All of the firms involved settled the charges. The settlements involved penalties—totaling $1.8 billion ($1.1 billion of which was assessed by the SEC, with penalties ranging from $10 million to $125 million, and $710 million of which was assessed by the CFTC, with penalties ranging from $6 million to $100 million)—and remedial measures. The SEC specifically noted that the recordkeeping requirements are “sacrosanct” and admonished other firms under similar requirements that they “would be well-served to self-report and self-remediate any deficiencies.”
See SEC Press Release 2022-174 (Sept. 27, 2022).
