On June 5, 2017, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held in Kokesh v. Securities and Exchange Commission [1] that disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions operates as a penalty, and as a result is subject to the federal five-year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. §2462. The Kokesh decision resolved a split between the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, and in the process undermined a key source of large recoveries by the SEC in FCPA resolutions, and in SEC proceedings more broadly.
via In the Wake of Kokesh v. SEC: Whither Disgorgement in FCPA Cases – Lexology