That’s not entirely true. A fine from a regulator, no matter how small, contains the threat that a much bigger punishment will come if you are a repeat offender

That’s not entirely true. A fine from a regulator, no matter how small, contains the threat that a much bigger punishment will come if you are a repeat offender. That includes trading suspensions: https://www.sec.gov/files/tradingsuspensions.pdf https://www.sec.gov/files/tradingsuspensions.pdf https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions.htm https://www.sec.gov/litigation/suspensions.htm