SEC Adjusts Civil Penalties for Inflation

The SEC adopted a final rule adjusting the maximum amounts of the civil monetary penalties for the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and certain penalties under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This rule implements the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, which requires the Commission, at least once every four years, to adopt a regulation adjusting for inflation the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties provided for in statutes administered by the Commission. The purpose of the inflationary adjustment is to maintain the level of deterrence effectuated by the civil monetary penalties and not to allow such deterrent effect to be diminished by inflation.