The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an online search feature that enables investors to research whether the person trying to sell them investments has a judgment or order entered against them in an enforcement action.
According to a press release, the new tool is intended to assist the public in making informed investment decisions and avoiding financial fraud.
The tool, “SEC Action Lookup for Individuals” (SALI), is designed to help identify registered and unregistered individuals who have been parties to past SEC enforcement actions and against whom federal courts have entered judgments or the SEC has issued orders.
The new tool’s results are not limited to registered investment professionals, as with many existing online search functions. Instead, SALI allows the public to identify individuals who have settled, defaulted or contested an enforcement action brought by the SEC, provided that a final judgment or order was entered against them in a federal court or an administrative proceeding.
The SEC notes that SALI supplements existing SEC-provided investor education resources available on its Investor.gov website, including a free investment professional search tool that provides access to information on investment adviser representatives as well as individuals listed in FINRA’s BrokerCheck system.
Currently, SALI search results include parties from SEC actions filed between Oct. 1, 2014, and March 31, 2018. The SEC will update the search feature periodically to add parties from newly filed actions and actions filed prior to Oct. 1, 2014.
