The SEC said it had to forgo $1.1 billion dollars of disgorgements in filed cases as a result.
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Those fines and disgorgements - or the return of ill-gotten gains - came through 862 enforcement actions, up from 821 in 20173.
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With more to lose, including large disgorgements, fines and lifetime bans, executives are more likely to fight back in court, sucking up SEC resources.
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But it leaves untouched the practice of letting companies take a deduction for illegal profits seized by regulators, provided these repaid sums - known as disgorgements - do not meet the formal definition of a penalty for criminal behaviour.
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Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service said the U.S. tax code in at least some cases prohibits a deduction for disgorgements to the Securities and Exchange Commission by companies that violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
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Treasury's concern is that if Apple or other affected firms are required to disgorge to Ireland or Luxembourg the taxes they should have paid, but didn't, then those firms will turn around and claim those disgorgements as foreign tax payments that reduce their U.S. tax bills.
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The bottom line: For all enforcement activity, including cases brought against individuals, the SEC took in $4.3 billion in fines and disgorgements (or the return of profits gained illegally), though a single case against a privately held real estate investing firm accounted for $1 billion of that amount.
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In 2015, both federal agencies collected $140 million in fines and disgorgements, which is less than a tenth of the amount received in 2014, a near record year at $1.57 billion, and less than a fifth of the $720 million collected in 2013, according to figures provided in the report.
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A Fair Fund is a fund established by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to distribute disgorgements (returns of wrongful profits) and penalties (fines) to defrauded investors. Fair Funds were established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
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In January 2009 the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Schapiro's appointment by President Barack Obama to be the SEC's first female permanent Chair. Schapiro partially blamed the financial crises of 2008 on deregulation, telling senators that the regulatory system had "not kept pace with the markets and the needs of investors". As the SEC's head, she said, she would press for tighter regulation of financial instruments, including derivatives. During Schapiro's tenure at the SEC, the agency improved its enforcement program, creating new structures, procedures, and programs to better address the modern financial markets, including: bringing 735 enforcement actions in FY 2011 and a near record of 734 actions in FY 2012; obtaining more than $11 billion in ordered disgorgements and penalties since FY 2009; prosecuting the largest insider trading scheme ever discovered, winning a record $92.8 million fine in the civil case against the CEO of the Galleon Hedge Fund; and bringing financial-crisis related actions against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among others. Also during Schapiro’s tenure, the SEC brought a record number of enforcement actions and returned more than $6 billion to harmed investors.
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