Top SEC official proposes program to check repeat offenders

(Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should consider creating a program to monitor fraudsters who repeatedly break the law, one of the regulator’s top officials said on Thursday. SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar, a Democrat, proposed that a potential program for recidivists could entail home and office visits, and giving regulators access to phone, bank and tax records.
“Many offenders, particularly Ponzi scheme offenders, have long track records,” Aguilar said in a speech at the Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington. “That tells me that the first time many of these defendants were prosecuted, the remedies and penalties did not effectively deter them from engaging in egregious fraud again.” Read more on Reuters here.