Those days are gone, and the first line of regulatory oversight at the 4,000+ brokerage firms in this country is finding itself the subject of regulatory proceedings. Fortunately, we have not seen many actions against compliance officers, and the reality is that a good faith effort to create a supervisory system, and to insure that it is being followed, should keep the compliance department out of a regulatory action.
But it does happen, and Brian L. Rubin from Sutherland Asbill
and Brennan, LLP, has put together an analysis and recap of recent enforcement proceedings against compliance officers.
The article is available at Sutherland's site - Harry Potter and the Compliance Stone:SEC and FINRA Enforcement Actions AgainstCompliance Officers (July-December 2015)