House passes Huizenga’s bipartisan bill to empower SEC in fraud cases

Bipartisan fraud-protection legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) this week received approval from the U.S. House of Representatives in a 314-95 vote.

The House on Nov. 18 approved the Investor Protection and Capital Markets Fairness Act, H.R. 4344, which Rep. Huizenga cosponsored in September with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) to help the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hold criminals accountable and help Main Street investors who are victims of fraud recover their financial losses.

“The latest report from the SEC found that more than $1.1 billion swindled from investors through fraudulent activity is unable to be recovered because of a 2017 Supreme Court decision,” Rep. Huizenga said on Tuesday.

The congressman added that H.R. 4344 “strikes a delicate balance to solve this by ensuring the SEC has the necessary tools to go after bad actors and prevent these sophisticated fraudsters from keeping the money they have stolen from our teachers, military service personnel, seniors, and religious-affiliated groups.”

According to the text of the bill, the SEC would be allowed, in any action or proceeding it brought or instituted under any provision of the securities laws, to seek recovery “in the amount of any unjust enrichment obtained as a result of the act or practice with respect to which the Commission is bringing such an action or proceeding,” as well as “injunctions, including officer and director bars.”

The U.S. Senate on Nov. 19 received H.R. 4344 and referred the measure to the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee for consideration.