A panel of the D.C. Circuit recently relied on Lucia and Cochran to enjoin a FINRA regulatory enforcement action pending appeal of an Appointments Clause challenge....more
8/21/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Article III ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Standing
On June 20, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review three questions about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) administrative courts...more
7/6/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Certiorari ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Public Rights Doctrine ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On January 12, the US Supreme Court agreed to review the constitutionality of the SEC’s administrative law judges.
On November 29, 2017, the SEC did an abrupt about-face, telling the Court it now regards its ALJs as...more
In an Opinion highlighting the Circuit split over the constitutionality of SEC administrative law judges (“ALJs”), the Fifth Circuit recently stayed an FDIC civil-penalty and bar order against a Bank director, pending...more
On Monday, May 22, the SEC stayed all its administrative proceedings assigned to an ALJ in which a Respondent has an option for review by the 10th Circuit. (Securities laws provide appellate review of SEC administrative...more
The Tenth Circuit recently held that the SEC’s in-house judges are “inferior officers” hired in violation of Article II’s Appointment Clauses, creating a split with the D.C. Circuit over the issue.
The Tenth Circuit held...more
Having lost her initial suit (and appeal) to enjoin an SEC administrative enforcement action against her, the so-called “diva of distressed,” Lynn Tilton recently filed another lawsuit trying to halt her upcoming October 24...more
The D.C. Circuit has affirmed that SEC ALJs are not constitutional Officers subject to the Appointments Clause, rejecting perhaps the strongest of the constitutional challenges to the Commission’s administrative forum. The...more
SEC Commissioners Piwowar and Gallagher dissented from a recent Commission Opinion sanctioning an investment adviser’s use of misleading historical data purporting to validate an asset-allocation model. Agreeing there was a...more
Laurie Bebo, CEO of Assisted Living Concepts, initially got some sympathetic words from the U.S. District Judge who felt constrained to turn away her constitutional challenge to the SEC’s administrative forum:
The Court...more
10/12/2015
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Appointments Clause ,
Bebo v SEC ,
Disclosure ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Protection ,
Fraud ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Seventh Amendment
The SEC recently – and predictably – rejected a Respondents’ arguments challenging the constitutionality of the agency’s administrative forum. The September 17 Timbervest decision was the first of the constitutional...more
An SEC administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found that former Wells Fargo trader Joseph Ruggieri traded on material nonpublic information tipped him by former analyst Greg Bolan, but dismissed the insider-trading charges against...more
9/16/2015
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appointments Clause ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Tippees ,
Wells Fargo
Manhattan federal Judge Richard Berman yesterday (August 12) issued a preliminary injunction halting the SEC’s administrative action against former S&P executive Barbara Duka, holding the SEC’s in-house courts were “likely...more