The SEC’s notice said some workers in the enforcement division in 2017 downloaded legal memos that should have been restricted to the commissioners and lawyers who advise them on orders and opinions. Instead, the documents were uploaded to a database that all SEC enforcement attorneys could see.
“It’s the equivalent of a party in litigation having access to a judge’s briefs from her law clerks,” said Nick Morgan, an attorney at Paul Hastings LLP who defends people in SEC investigations. “This breach reinforces the problem with the SEC’s administrative process in which the commission has total discretion to deprive parties of their ability to have matters litigated in federal court.”
Source: SEC Says Employees Improperly Accessed Privileged Legal Records – WSJ
