Or for individuals, organizations can qualify for departures limit SEC’s broad discretion to evaluate every case indi- pursuant to § 8C4.1 of the Guidelines for cooperating in vidually on its own unique facts and circumstances. Similar the prosecution of others. to SEC’s treatment of cooperating individuals, credit for cooperation by companies may range from taking no Civil Cases enforcement action to pursuing reduced sanctions in con- nection with enforcement actions. SEC’s Framework for Evaluating Cooperation by Companies SEC’s Framework for Evaluating Cooperation by SEC’s framework for evaluating cooperation by com- Individuals panies is set forth in its 2001 Report of Investigation Pursuant In 2010, SEC announced a new cooperation program to Section 21 (a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and for individuals.” SEC staff has a wide range of tools to Commission Statement on the Relationship of Cooperation to facilitate and reward cooperation by individuals, from tak- Agency Enforcement Decisions, which is commonly known ing no enforcement action to pursuing reduced sanctions in as the Seaboard Report.”* The report, which explained the connection with enforcement actions. Although the evalu- Commission’s decision not to take enforcement action ation of cooperation depends on the specific circumstances, against a public company for certain accounting violations SEC generally evaluates four factors to determine whether, caused by its subsidiary, details the many factors SEC consid- to what extent, and in what manner to credit cooperation ers in determining whether, and to what extent, it grants leni- by individuals: ency to companies for cooperating in its investigations and e the assistance provided by the cooperating indi- for related good corporate citizenship. Specifically, the report vidual in SEC’s investigation or related enforce- identifies four broad measures of a company’s cooperation: ment actions, including, among other things: the e self-policing