The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) collected a total of $8.2 billion in penalties and fines in fiscal 2024, according to its November 22 annual report.
This is the highest amount the SEC has ever collected, despite a 26% drop in the number of cases to a total of 583.
More than half of the total amount resulted from the SEC's victory in the court case against Terraform and its former CEO, Do Kwon. These paid a $4.47 billion settlement after being found liable for fraudulent activities that led to the collapse of its blockchain ecosystem in 2022, causing billions of dollars in losses to investors.
Excluding the Terraform settlement, the SEC would have only collected $3.72 billion, which would have been its lowest year since 2013, when it collected $3.4 billion.