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In the wake of this summer’s Supreme Court decision in Liu v. SEC – declaring that at least some SEC disgorgement awards may qualify as “equitable relief” and therefore may be permissible under applicable law – insightful commentators and practitioners have lamented that the Court undermined its unanimous ruling from just a few years ago […]
Insider trading has long been a focus for the Commission’s Enforcement Division. While the cases can be difficult to detect, over the years the agency had developed a huge data base and critical data analytics that often aid in fretting out large and small potential cases. When insider trading is found, the actions are brought. […]
On June 22, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court published its decision in Liu v. Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming the SEC’s authority to seek disgorgement from federal courts in enforcement actions. This was an important question that the Court raised but did not answer in 2017. The confirmation, however, comes with limitations not previously imposed […]
Three years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Kokesh v. SEC that disgorgement in the context of an SEC enforcement action functions as a “penalty” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 2462 and is therefore subject to a five-year statute of limitations. 581 U.S. ___ (2017). In practice, the effect of Kokesh for companies and individuals under investigation by […]
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 […]