SEC v. Keith A. Wakefield (unauthorized trading and fictitious commissions, 2021)

Settled

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-keith-a-wakefield-2021) by email

In October 2021, the SEC charged former IFS Securities trading head Keith A. Wakefield with unauthorized Treasury trading that lost millions, falsified records and about US$820,000 in fictitious commission income; he agreed to settle, with money terms left to the court.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	LR-25239
Date filed	2021-10-01
Date resolved	2021-10-01
Status	settled
Asset class	bonds
Criminal parallel	Yes: charged (Keith A. Wakefield), U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2021-10-01
Defendants	Keith A. Wakefield (individual)
Cited as charged or alleged	Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Exchange Act s.15(c) ; Securities Act s.17(a) (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: —
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: —
Alleged gain: $820k

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on October 1, 2021 as release LR-25239. The respondents named are Keith A. Wakefield (1 individual, 0 entities).

The complaint alleges that from June to August 2019 Wakefield made unauthorized speculative Treasury trades for IFS that caused millions in losses, and falsified the firm's records, and that from 2017 to 2019 he took about $820,000 in commissions on fictitious customer payments he invented. No wash trading is alleged.

This library applies no technique tag to the matter. The conduct is unauthorized trading, books-and-records falsification and commission fraud, not wash trading.

Wakefield agreed to a permanent injunction and to disgorgement, interest and a penalty in amounts the court will set. The settlement is subject to court approval. A parallel criminal case was announced.

Wakefield agreed to settle, subject to court approval.

Timeline

2021-10-01 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

SEC litigation release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.