PHOENIX - The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), a Washington, DC regulatory trade group, honored Sharon Fox with its first annual Enforcement Award for her leadership and aggressive action against fraudulent investment schemes. Sharon Fox is the Assistant Director of Enforcement for the Arizona Corporation Commission's Securities Division. Fox received the award at NASAA's Winter Enforcement Conference.

Fox has been in securities enforcement for nearly 20 years and has been on the staff of the Commission's Securities Division since the early 1980s. She is responsible for a staff of 20 and the cases each staff member handles. As a Special Assistant Attorney General, she functions as a trial attorney on administrative civil and criminal cases that are brought before grand juries, bankruptcy court and courts of appeal.

Commission Chairman Bill Mundell congratulated Fox on behalf of himself and Commissioners Jim Irvin and Marc Spitzer.

"We congratulate you on achieving this national recognition from your peers. Your dedicated service on behalf of Arizona investors helps restore money to investors who were swindled," Mundell said. "Because of your hard work, countless others have the information they need to avoid getting scammed. We appreciate your integrity and commitment and are pleased to have your leadership among our staff at the Arizona Corporation Commission."

Fox spearheaded several high-profile investigations into fraudulent investment scams. Recently, Fox's actions against companies involved in selling viatical investments have garnered national and regional news coverage. Viatical investments are interests in the death benefits of terminally ill patients. The death benefit is sold to an investor for cash and when the patient dies, the investor gets the cash.

Viatical settlement contracts have been a nationwide problem for securities and insurance regulators for much of the last decade. NASAA lists viatical investments as one of this year's top ten problems for investors.

Fox is active on a number of NASAA committees, including the serving on the Enforcement Committee and chairing NASAA's Publication Committee and has presented at several enforcement conferences.