The SEC also alleges that the executives filed false financial reports to the SEC for the one-year period ending in April 1999.

CNN: SEC files lawsuit against Denver Y2K software company

The SEC said no-one but Sir Allen and James Davis, SIB's chief financial officer, knew where most of cash has been invested and accused both men of failing to co-operate with investigators.

BBC: Countries suspend Stanford banks

One sure-fire way to get noticed by the SEC or law enforcement is to restate financials.

FORBES: Accounting Fraud Cases Are Dead. Long Live Accounting Fraud Cases.

The SEC enforcement action deals with only one so-called Abacus CDO, but there were others.

FORBES: Goldman Gets Charged, But Wall Street Will Pay

Among the civil-fraud suits that have resulted from the initiative is one filed against ThinkStrategy Capital Management LLP, which attracted SEC attention partly because it seemed able to defy stock-market gravity.

WSJ: SEC Ups Its Game to Identify Rogue Firms

In court papers, Mr. Tourre's lawyers have argued the regulator is cherry-picking one phone call within a large trove of recordings the SEC had known about since 2008.

WSJ: From 'Fabulous Fab' to Grad Student

"The problem of less-than-candid testimony ... is a serious one, " Robert Khuzami, the SEC's director of enforcement, said at a conference last month.

WSJ: Legal Eagles in Cross Hairs

The requirement for senior executives to put their own signature to company accounts themselves is just one aspect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was rushed through Congress in response to the string of scandals and which is one of the most far-reaching pieces of financial legislation since Depression-era laws established the SEC almost 70 years ago.

ECONOMIST: Swearing by the numbers