The SEC announced last week the appointments of the two leaders of its new “Office of Collections and Distributions.” The appointees are Richard J. D’Anna, Director of the office, and Lynn M. Powalski, Deputy Director. The new office is intended to “expedite the return of more than $5 billion in so-called Fair Funds to harmed investors, while cutting red tape and the costs of the distributions.”Mr.D’Anna was previously Senior Vice President at 1st Bridgehouse Securities and a Senior Vice President and Consultant at FITS, Inc. Ms. Powalski was previously an Assistant Director and Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel for Collections and Distributions within the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

The SEC announced last week that following its most recent distribution of $356 million to investors harmed by the financial fraud at Fannie Mae, it has now “distributed more than $3 billion overall since the agency was given authority to send financial penalties from SEC enforcement actions to the victims of financial fraud.”

The SEC was given authority to distribute such penalties to investors under the Fair Funds provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (prior to the passage of SOX, the SEC was required to send financial penalties from its enforcement actions to the U.S. Treasury).