[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 56 (Thursday, March 30, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2153-S2154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Heitkamp, and Mr. 
        Leahy):
  S. 779. A bill to enhance civil penalties under the Federal 
securities laws, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, the Stronger Enforcement of Civil Penalties 
Act, which I reintroduce today with Senator Grassley, Senator Heitkamp, 
and Senator Leahy, will enhance the ability of securities regulators to 
protect investors and demand greater accountability from market 
players. Even after the financial crisis that crippled the economy, we 
continue to see calculated wrongdoing by some on Wall Street, and 
without the consequence of meaningful penalties to serve as an 
effective deterrent, I fear this disturbing culture of misconduct will 
persist.
  Today, the amount of penalties the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, or SEC can fine an institution or individual is limited by 
statute. During hearings I held in 2011 in the Securities, Insurance, 
and Investment Banking Subcommittee, I learned how this limitation 
significantly interferes with the SEC's ability to perform its 
enforcement duties. At that time, the agency had been criticized by a 
Federal judge for not obtaining a larger settlement against Citigroup, 
a major player in the financial crisis that settled with the SEC in an 
amount that was a fraction of the cost the bank had inflicted on 
investors. The SEC explained that the reason for the low settlement 
amount was a statutory prohibition against levying a larger penalty. 
Indeed, then SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro in 2011 also explained that 
``the Commission's statutory authority to obtain civil monetary 
penalties with appropriate deterrent effect is limited in many 
circumstances.''
  The bipartisan bill Senator Grassley and I are reintroducing finally 
updates the SEC's civil penalties statute. This bill strives to make 
potential and current offenders think twice before engaging in 
misconduct by increasing the maximum civil monetary penalties permitted 
by statute, directly linking the size of the maximum penalties to the 
amount of losses suffered by victims of a violation and substantially 
raising the financial stakes for repeat offenders of our Nation's 
securities laws.
  Specifically, our bill would give the SEC more options to tailor 
penalties to the specific circumstances of a given violation. In 
addition to raising the per violation caps for severe, or ``tier

[[Page S2154]]

three,'' violations to $1 million per offense for individuals and $10 
million per offense for entities, the legislation would also give the 
SEC additional options to obtain greater penalties based on the ill-
gotten gains of the violator or on the financial harm to investors.
  Our bill also addresses the disturbing trend of repeat offenders on 
Wall Street through two provisions. The first would allow the SEC to 
triple the penalty cap applicable to recidivists who have been held 
either criminally or civilly liable for securities fraud within the 
previous 5 years. The second would allow the SEC to seek a civil 
penalty against those that violate existing Federal court or SEC 
orders, an approach that would be more efficient, effective, and 
flexible than the current civil contempt remedy. Both of these changes 
would substantially improve the ability of the SEC's enforcement 
program to ratchet up penalties for recidivists.
  Slightly more than half of all U.S. households are invested in the 
stock market. They deserve a strong cop on the beat that has the tools 
it needs to go after fraudsters and pursue the difficult cases arising 
from our increasingly complex financial markets. The Stronger 
Enforcement of Civil Penalties Act will give the SEC more tools to 
demand meaningful accountability from Wall Street, which in turn will 
increase transparency and confidence in our financial system. I urge 
our colleagues to support this important bipartisan legislation to 
enhance the SEC's ability to protect investors and to deter and crack 
down on fraud.
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