SEC brings 348 enforcement actions in fiscal 2026 and returns about $731 million to investors, with crypto frauds among its highlighted cases

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed 348 enforcement actions in fiscal 2026, the agency said on Tuesday. That total includes 235 standalone actions and 113 follow-on administrative proceedings. The agency obtained orders for about $1.095 billion in monetary relief, made up of roughly $752 million in disgorgement and interest and $343 million in civil penalties. About $731 million went back to more than 250,000 harmed investors. A court in a separate, non-SEC case deemed $235 million of the disgorgement already satisfied. The release did not compare the enforcement figures with earlier years.

Most of the crypto cases the SEC chose to highlight were fraud cases. After a February trial, a jury found Ismael Sanchez liable over CryptoFX, a Ponzi scheme the SEC says raised about $300 million from more than 40,000 mostly Latino investors; the agency first charged him and 16 others in March 2024. In July a court ordered Michael Noble, charged in 2021 as an unregistered broker for BitConnect's lending program, to pay about $731,000 in disgorgement, about $294,000 in prejudgment interest and a $50,000 penalty. The agency also charged three purported crypto trading platforms and four investment clubs over an alleged social-media scam that took at least $14 million, and the founder of a bitcoin mining business who it says raised more than $95.6 million and misappropriated $48.5 million.

Enforcement director David Woodcock said the focus is on "rigorous investigations, pursuing consequential misconduct." The whistleblower program received about 26,000 tips during the year.