WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Businesses that run afoul of U.S. securities laws will not be able to seek a waiver to keep doing certain types of business as part of their settlement negotiations with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulator announced on Thursday.
The SEC move to separate the practice of granting waivers from its enforcement work suggests a harsher stance on the activity going forward. Companies that are found guilty of criminal conduct or fraud can be barred from certain activities, such as private capital deals, without such an SEC waiver.
(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; editing by Jonathan Oatis)