The SEC and the First Amendment – WSJ

… [The SEC]  is making First Amendment waves again while pursuing a case in Chicago federal court against former media mogul Conrad Black.

Mr. Black was held liable in 2008 for civil securities fraud, based largely on a related 2007 criminal conviction (which was partially overturned after Supreme Court review in 2010). Although Mr. Black was separately punished in the criminal case, the SEC contends that he now deserves the harshest civil penalties under the law—in his case approximately $4 million. Yet the most notable aspect of the case isn’t the large sum demanded by the SEC but rather the commission’s justification for the enhanced punishment: namely, that Mr. Black is “unrepentant” and “impenitent.”

via The SEC and the First Amendment – WSJ.com