Regulatory actions and programs

"The number of enforcement cases is likely to be down considerably going forward," said Urska Velikonja, a law professor at Emory University.

The acting head of OCIE says the commission has abandoned "wide, full-scope" scrutiny in favor of more targeted, risk-based reviews.

The wirehouse has already paid $415 million in fines and disgorged profits in a settlement.

Hope is dimming, but top Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and investor advocates are unlikely to relent in their efforts to preserve the regulation.

"To me, that rule, it was about one thing and it was about enabling trial lawyers to increase profits,” acting Chairman Michael Piwowar says.

The transactions cost the client $575,000 in fees and lost dividend payments, according to FINRA.

The increase was due to the rise in the size and number of "supersized" fines of $1 million or more; meanwhile, restitution fell 71% from the previous year.

The department says it needs time to complete a review of the regulation ordered by President Trump, who also recently outlined criteria for reversing the rule.

When an adviser’s Spidey sense tingles, there’s usually a good reason, Kimberly Foss says.

The deputy director of the agency's examinations unit, however, cautions that any such effort must be carefully coordinated.

Andy Sieg, head of the firm, says that "operational changes" are possible if the rule is delayed or overturned.

The latest developments make columnist Bob Veres wonder whether he has fallen through a wormhole.

“It starts out small,” the advisor told his compliance officer, authorities say. “You think you are going to pay it back.”

Just in case clients are looking to cut few corners, here are some of the most common tax frauds that the agency is ready to pounce upon.

An adviser at the firm squandered the aging clients' retirement money on oil and gas investments and Puerto Rico bonds, their lawyer said.

The broker was terminated after a series of unauthorized transactions involving the accounts of customers of both BBVA and its affiliate bank, FINRA claimed.

In spite of its own compliance policies, the firm failed to get several hundred clients to sign a disclosure notice that described risks associated with inverse ETFs.

The regulator rebuked the broker for excessive trading that generated more than $666,000 in commissions and fees and resulted in $397,000 in losses.

SEC staff recommended this solution as far back as 2011.

A new comment period would give the administration time to prepare for legal challenges anticipated after it puts a delay into place, one expert says.