Securities law violators were given over 1,800 years of total jail time in cases brought by state securities regulators last year, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) reported Monday.

According to NASAA’s annual enforcement survey, the prison sentences handed out in cases stemming from enforcement actions brought by state securities regulators increased by about 33% in 2013. It reports that state securities regulators conducted 4,882 investigations, which led to 2,184 enforcement actions, during the year. These actions resulted in 1,816 years of total jail time for criminal defendants, said William Beatty, NASAA president and director of the Washington Securities Division.

This prison time total was up by a third from the previous year, representing an additional 455 years in prison, it says. NASAA also reports that the average sentence increased by more than 53% to five and a half years.

“State securities regulators continue to serve as a strong line of defense to protect the public against investor fraud,” Beatty said. “The increase in jail time reflects the increasing complexity and heinousness of the crimes state securities regulators investigate and the criminals they help bring to justice.”

State enforcement actions also resulted in US$616 million being returned to investors and US$72 million in fines or penalties, NASAA says. Additionally, criminal defendants were ordered to serve 679 years of probation, up 96% from the previous year. And, it says, that the licenses of 3,438 broker-dealers, investment advisers and their representatives were either withdrawn, denied, revoked, suspended, or had conditions placed on them by state securities regulators.

“Screening bad actors on the front end as a preventative measure is an often overlooked but vitally important way state securities regulators protect investors before their money can be lost,” Beatty said.

NASAA says that its statistics show that the majority of investment fraud cases reported by state securities regulators continue to involve unregistered individuals or firms. It says that 44% of its cases (810 actions) involve unregistered firms or individuals; 31%, or 576 actions, involve registered broker-dealer firms and agents; 19%, 350 actions, include registered investment adviser firms, or their reps; and, just 6%, 54 actions, involve insurance firms or agents.