Supreme Court Seems Skeptical of SEC's Civil Suit Power
Agency wants to make its own rules on when statute of limitations applies
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared poised to curtail the power of the top federal securities regulator to seek civil penalties when it takes a long time to conduct fraud investigations.
In oral argument, justices from across the ideological spectrum sharply questioned a government lawyer arguing for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over how to interpret a law requiring the agency to seek such penalties within five years.
The case involved whether the SEC waited too long to sue mutual fund manager Marc Gabelli and his colleague Bruce Alpert, chief operating officer of Gabelli Funds LLC, over a client's questionable trades.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?