SEC collected more than $4.3 billion in disgorgement and penalties in 2019

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) collected more than $4.3 billion in disgorgement and penalties in 2019. Moreover, the SEC returned roughly $1.2 billion to harmed investors.

According to the press release published Wednesday, the SEC brought 862 enforcement actions in 2019 including issuer disclosure, accounting violations,  auditor misconduct, investment advisory issues, securities offerings, market manipulation, insider trading and broker-dealer misconduct.

Notably, Block.One, the firm behind EOS, agreed to a $24 million settlement with the SEC after allegedly raising $4 billion. Airfox, Paragon Coin, ICO Rating, Nebulous (the firm behind Sia) also settled charges with the SEC in the fiscal year of 2019. None of the penalties were more than $300,000. Kik, which issued its own cryptocurrency, is also currently being sued by the SEC.