The California Department of Corporations administers and enforces numerous state laws, including the Commodity Law, Corporate Securities Law of 1968, Deferred Deposit Law, Escrow Law, Franchise Law, Finance Lenders Law, and Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Recently, I took a look at the Department’s enforcement activity for the first seven months of this year. By my count, the Department brought actions (administrative or civil) involving a total of 159 alleged violations. Some of these actions alleged violations of more than one law (e.g., the unlawful sale of securities under the Corporate Securities Law and the Finance Lenders Law). Thus, the actual number of actions is less than 159. Violations of the Escrow Law and unlawful sale of securities were the most commonly alleged violations, representing approximately 29% and 26% of the total.
The Department’s website allows the public to search enforcement actions by name of party or chronologically.
