For U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement practitioners, perhaps the blockbuster decision of the last U.S. Supreme Court term was Kokesh v. SEC — but not for the reason that you might suspect. In Kokesh, the Supreme Court held that the disgorgement remedy, when sought by the SEC in an enforcement action, is a “penalty” subject to the five-year statute of limitations found in 28 U.S.C. § 2462. On its own terms, this is a significant decision, as the SEC each year obtains orders for disgorgement in amounts that far outstrip ordered monetary penalties.

Originally published in Law360 - September 22, 2017.