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This term, the Supreme Court will consider whether a federal court can order disgorgement in an enforcement action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Liu v. SEC, No. 18-1501. Under a disgorgement order, defendants are required to turn over gains derived from violating the federal securities laws. In Kokesh v. SEC, 137 S.Ct. 1635 […]
On November 1, 2019, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission (18-1501). Liu seeks review of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) authority to pursue disgorgement as a form of equitable relief for federal securities law violations in district court proceedings, an issue cast into doubt by the Supreme […]
The outcome in Liu could seriously undercut the SEC’s enforcement power by taking away one of its most powerful tools, and by encouraging defendants to continue to challenge the SEC’s remedial authority in other contexts, such as suspensions and bars. Additionally, Liu could call into question the power of other regulatory agencies to seek disgorgement. […]
Over the course of 12 years, Charles Kokesh quietly misappropriated more than $30 million from investors, a jury found in 2014. Kokesh, now 71, cultivated some expensive and unusual hobbies, such as importing Argentine polo ponies and participating in cowboy-style shooting competitions, according to trial testimony. But the really unusual part of the story is […]
Given his frequent comments on market structure issues, the top of his wish list for the SEC might seem surprising. According to Commissioner Jackson, if he could have one wish, he would like to see a legislative fix to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kokesh v. SEC. In Kokesh, the Supreme Court rejected […]
The challenge for the S.E.C. will be whether it can adjust to the restrictions without their hindering its enforcement. If the agency can’t, it will have to persuade Congress to give it more time to pursue charges when the underlying misconduct might not come to light until years later. via With Clock Ticking Faster on […]
The Supreme Court has now twice rebuked the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) in unanimous opinions on statutes of limitations. See Gabelli v. Securities and Exchange Commission, 568 U.S. 442 (2013); see also Kokesh v. Securities and Exchange Commission, 137 S. Ct. 1635 (2017). Its February 2013 Gabelli decision, coupled with its June […]
The court’s June ruling(here) affects many parts of federal law enforcement in which prosecutors require firms to pay back ill-gotten gains. But the cases under the FCPA anti-bribery law will be disproportionately affected because they take more time to investigate and often are based on repaying illicit gains, SEC Co-Director of Enforcement Stephen Peiken said. […]
Anyway some lawyers read the Kokesh opinion in that particular way and brought this class-action lawsuit against the SEC a couple of weeks ago. Delightfully the class of victims/plaintiffs in the lawsuit is securities fraudsters: Specifically, it’s “all persons or entities from whom the SEC has collected, during the period from October 26, 2011 to the present, purported ‘disgorgement,’” […]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been hit with a class action lawsuit seeking to recover $14.9 billion that lawyers for an investment firm’s liquidating trustee say should not have been collected given a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Boston on Thursday by the liquidating trustee […]