The Securities and Exchange Commission over the five years ending in 2018 took in 55 percent of the $20 billion in enforcement fines set through settlements or court judgments, according to agency statistics, the Wall Street Journal reported. During the prior five years, from 2009 through 2013, the SEC collected on 60 percent of $14.6 billion. And in 2018, the commission collected just 28 percent of almost $4 billion. That rate — the lowest in a decade — was due in part to an unusual $1.7 billion settlement with the Brazilian oil company Petrobras that may never require payment to the SEC. The SEC has struggled for years to get defendants to pay more of their fines, although some are almost certain to avoid payment forever. That includes people who went to prison on related criminal charges, or people behind Ponzi schemes who spent the funds they took from defrauded investors.
