The Eleventh Circuit vacated the SEC’s 2023 Funding Order for its Consolidated Audit Trail (the “CAT”) as arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. Am. Sec. Ass’n v. SEC, No. 23-13396 (11th Cir. July 25, 2025). The court remanded the matter to the SEC for further proceedings. For over a decade, the…
Tag: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Prior Employment Retaliation Action Precludes False Claims Act Qui Tam Action
A False Claims Act (“FCA”) qui tam action may be barred by res judicata because of a prior employment retaliation action, the Eleventh Circuit held in Milner v. Baptist Health Montgomery, 132 F.45h 1354 (11th Cir. 2025). A physician brought suit against his former employer-hospital, alleging that he was fired for whistleblowing on a scheme…
Ponzi Scheme Victims Prevail over SEC Receiver on Due Process Grounds
In SEC v. Torchia, 2019 WL 1911823 (11th Cir. Apr. 30, 2019), the Eleventh Circuit held in favor of investors victimized by a Ponzi scheme, concluding that the investors were permitted to appeal the district court’s interlocutory orders regarding receivership proceedings and that they had been denied a meaningful day in court. The appeal arose…
Securities Private Offering Exemption Applies in SEC Enforcement Action
The Eleventh Circuit rejected the SEC’s narrow construction of registration exemptions in SEC v. Levin, 2017 WL 711018 (Feb. 23, 2017), reversing a grant of summary judgment to the defendant but still affirming a jury verdict for securities fraud on multiple counts. The defendant, George Levin, invested his personal funds in a Ponzi scheme that…
Supreme Court to Decide Circuit Split on Statute of Limitations for SEC Disgorgement Claims
This past Friday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Kokesh v. SEC, No. 16-529 (cert. granted Jan. 13, 2017), to review a circuit split on whether the SEC’s claims for disgorgement are limited to a five-year statute of limitations. 28 U.S.C. § 2462 places a five-year statute of limitations on any “action, suit or proceeding for…
Eleventh Circuit Limits SEC’s Claims for Declaratory Judgment and Disgorgement to Five-Year Statute of Limitations
Unless otherwise provided by law, 28 U.S.C. § 2462 ordinarily requires the government to bring any “action, suit or proceeding for the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture” within five years of the claim’s accrual. In SEC v. Graham, 2016 WL 3033605 (11th Cir. May 26, 2016), the Eleventh Circuit held that this statute of…