Company settlements with SEC plunge

The number of settlements the SEC has struck with companies could drop to about 170 for all of 2008, according to economic research firm NERA. That would be the lowest number for any year since Sarbanes-Oxley was passed in 2002. Investment News notes that 56 percent of company settlements involve a monetary penalty, with a median settlement of $1 million so far this year. Excepting a $700,000 median in 2007, the 2008 median was the lowest since 2003. In recent years there have been more blockbuster-type penalties. Before Sarbox, the largest penalty imposed in an SEC enforcement action against a publicly-traded company for fraud was $10 million. Since then, the SEC has imposed penalties of $10 million or more against 115 parties.  

For more:
- here's the Investment News article

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