ByPYMNTS

New data shows that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has only collected 55 percent of the $20 billion in fraud-related fines it imposed over the last five fiscal years.

In addition, agency statistics show that during the previous five years, from 2009 through 2013, the SEC collected 60 percent of $14.6 billion, while in fiscal year 2018 it received 28 percent of almost $4 billion in fines. However, that enforcement rate — the lowest in a decade — was due in part to a $1.7 billion settlement with Brazilian oil company Petrobras that allowed the company to pay Brazilian authorities.

The main reason for the SEC’s collection woes is that it cannot seize a debtor’s property or assets to receive payment. Instead, it relies on the long process of filing liens or going to court for contempt orders, said Brad Bennett, a former enforcement director at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

“It’s difficult, and they have to be especially persistent to get the numbers up,” Bennett said, according to  The Wall Street Journal.

For example, last month the SEC requested that a federal judge in Georgia enforce a five-year-old judgment against investment adviser Ernie Montford who was required to pay more than $360,000 because he failed to disclose a conflict of interest. While Montford paid the SEC in monthly amounts from his Social Security income, that yielded only about $21,000, according to an April 30 court filing submitted by the SEC.

“The SEC stomps on little firms like mine,” said Montford. “If I could have paid more, I would have paid them.”

The SEC can write off unpaid fines as uncollectible after a two-year delinquency. Yet according to Michael Shaub, a professor of accounting and accounting ethics at Texas A&M University, the agency is better off pursuing collection of fines against bad actors.

“From a public-policy perspective, people would rather see bad guys fund the SEC than good guys,” Shaub said.

译文：新数据显示，美国证券交易委员会（SEC）在过去五个财年中仅收取了200亿美元与欺诈相关的罚款中的55％。

此外，机构统计数据显示，在过去的五年中，从2009年到2013年，美国证券交易委员会收集了146亿美元的60％，而在2018财政年度，它收到了近40亿美元罚款中的28％。然而，执法率 - 十年来的最低水平 - 部分归因于与巴西石油公司Petrobras达成的17亿美元和解协议，该协议允许该公司向巴西当局付款。

美国证券交易委员会收集问题的主要原因是它无法扣押债务人的财产或资产来接收付款。金融业监管局前执法主管布拉德贝内特表示，相反，它依赖于长期提交留置权或上诉藐视法庭的过程。

据“华尔街日报 ”报道，贝内特说：“这很困难，他们必须特别坚持才能获得数字  。”

例如，美国证券交易委员会上个月要求佐治亚州的一名联邦法官对投资顾问厄尼·蒙特福德（Ernie Montford）执行一项为期五年的判决，因为他没有披露利益冲突，因此要求支付超过36万美元。美国证券交易委员会提交的4月30日法院文件显示，虽然蒙特福德每月从其社会保障收入中支付给美国证券交易委员会，但收入仅为21,000美元。

“美国证券交易委员会踩到像我这样的小公司，”蒙特福德说。“如果我能支付更多，我会支付给他们的。”

美国证券交易委员会可以在两年的违法行为中将未付的罚款注销为无法收回的罚款。然而据德克萨斯A＆M大学会计和会计职业道德教授迈克尔·沙布（Michael Shaub）称，该机构最好不要追究对不良行为者的罚款。

“从公共政策的角度来看，人们宁愿看到坏人为SEC提供资金而不是好人，”Shaub说。