WSJ Op-Ed Highlights Growing Costs of SEC Enforcement Actions

William R. Baker III, a former associate director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division, and Latham & Watkins LLP partner Joel H. Trotter, highlight a U.S. Chamber report in a Wall Street Journal op-ed spotlighting the growing costs of SEC enforcement actions.

“The costs associated with SEC enforcement actions have never been higher,” notes the op-ed. “A recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce study reported that an SEC investigation imposes $4.6 million in average direct costs. Even when the SEC determines no wrongdoing, companies can incur enormous financial costs, with some investigations running well over $100 million.”

Such enforcement actions impose “direct and indirect costs on public companies and other officers”.

“That’s bad for business, and bad for the U.S. economy,” conclude the authors.

Read the full op-ed here.