CFTC pulls record $3.27 billion in penalties

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) pulled in a record amount of monetary sanctions against bad financial actors during fiscal 2014.

The derivatives regulator announced Thursday that it had pulled in $3.27 billion in penalties from individuals and firms, and filed 67 new enforcement actions during the most recent fiscal year.

{mosads}The regulator has received greatly expanded responsibility and power thanks to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and it appears that expansion is becoming a reality. In the last two fiscal years, the CFTC obtained more than $5 billion in monetary sanctions, which is greater than what the watchdog pulled in over the previous 10 years combined.

“The CFTC is committed to aggressive enforcement and policing of our financial markets. Through the outstanding work of CFTC enforcement staff, the CFTC sends the message that the protection of customers and the integrity of the markets are paramount,” said Timothy Massad, chairman of the CFTC.

The CFTC also said it opened more than 240 new investigations over the last fiscal year. The regulator has long pushed Congress to expand its budget and quickly noted Thursday that the sanctions it obtained in the last fiscal year are more than eight times its operating budget, which stands at just $215 million. The regulator noted its staff in now 10 percent smaller than it was when Dodd-Frank was enacted in 2010, and it faced staff furloughs as well as the 16-day government shutdown earlier in the fiscal year.

“The Commission’s enforcement results are even more noteworthy because of constrained resources and a truncated work year,” the agency noted.