On Friday, June 20, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed an action against the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives and congressional staffer Brian Sutter seeking enforcement of subpoenas the SEC issued. The SEC is investigating whether laws against insider trading, specifically applicable to members and employees of Congress via the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (the “STOCK Act”), were violated by the disclosure of non-public information about Medicare reimbursement rates. This is pretty exciting stuff for securities lawyers. It isn’t everyday that one branch of the federal government sues another. (Generally, the facts set forth below are derived from the SEC’s court filing and have not yet been established as true in court.)

About a year after the STOCK Act became law, the SEC launched an investigation into whether information regarding the April 1, 2013 announcement by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) on the 2014 reimbursement rates for the Medicare Advantage program was leaked improperly prior to the official public announcement. In its brief filed with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC details the opening of a formal investigation to determine, among other things, the source(s) of information in an email sent from a lobbyist to a broker-dealer that issued a “flash report” indicating that certain Medicare reimbursement rates would actually increase, rather than decrease as had been expected. The flash report was issued approximately 40 minutes before the official CMS announcement regarding the reimbursement rates and was followed promptly by a dramatic increase in the price and trading volume of certain health care stocks.

On May 6, 2014 the SEC staff issued subpoenas to the House Committee on Ways and Means and Brian Sutter. Mr. Sutter is the Staff Director of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Healthcare Committee. Before becoming Staff Director, Mr. Sutter was a staff member to the Subcommittee. Both the Committee and Mr. Sutter have refused to comply with the subpoenas, citing a number of legal objections, including that the documents demanded are protected by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. The SEC is having none of that and, on June 20, 2014, the SEC filed an action to enforce subpoenas it issued in connection with its investigation, potentially setting up a Constitutional showdown.    

From my perspective, there are at least two interesting points here. First, the SEC appears to be aggressively enforcing the STOCK Act. Hopefully, the courts will find a way to support the SEC in its efforts to conduct the investigation. If the SEC cannot investigate, the STOCK Act may have little, if any, bite. (If you would like to read more about the STOCK Act, please see our summary in the April 2012 issue of Up to Date.) Second, it will be very interesting to watch the matter unfold from a Constitutional perspective.