The SEC's International Enforcement Programme: Gathering Evidence outside the US

As surely as night follows day, the internationalisation of securities fraud has followed the internationalisation of the world's securities markets. As a result, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has had to develop new investigative and enforcement tools. If a boiler room operator in another country defrauds investors in the US by means of the Internet, the telephone or the mails, the SEC's ability to investigate the activities in the foreign country depends on its ability to obtain information and documents from persons it is able to assert jurisdiction over in the US, or to obtain assistance of its foreign counterparts.