From BusinessWeek Online:

The SEC is going after pump and dump scammers with renewed vigor and some new tactics. No longer content with pursuing fraudsters one at a time, according to an article in the new issue of BusinessWeek, SEC attorneys are now focusing on "gatekeepers" who show up as, if not repeat offenders, then as repeat facillitators of small-time stock swindles. Agency enforcement diector Stephen Cutler has assembled a team of ten investigators to review the micro-cap markets looking for signs of manipulation. The SEC will halt trading of companies that it believes are suspect and will try to nab repeat offenders on provable violations that they can effectively prosecute. The agency also promises a tightening of stock registration regulations and better cooperation with state and international regulators.

See the article for the full skinny on the SEC's plans.

-- MDT