In the article linked below, the authors believe that the landscape of SEC enforcement is changing. According to this article, entities and individuals facing SEC actions are winning, or not losing as much. Of course, the examples in the article are purely anecdotal, and there are no real statistics to prove the point.
 | Representing Advisors and Investors, Nationwide. |
I have always been a believer in taking on the SEC, or at least pushing back from their aggressive stance, but as an attorney, I must also recognize the financial burden to my clients in pushing back and taking them to the mat. We must face the fact that the SEC Staff has virtually unlimited resources. There is no hesitation to file a motion for summary judgment with 250 alleged “material facts which are not in dispute” which forces the defendant to respond to each “fact” with a specific reference to discovery materials or documentation. That is extremely time-consuming and thus costly, and available only to the largest, or wealthiest, defendants.
However, defendants must navigate this new terrain with a well-thought-out strategy, potentially benefiting from a more confrontational stance. That includes a proactive response to all aspects of the SEC’s investigation in the hope of eliminating court litigation or at least disproving parts of their allegations to narrow the scope of that litigation.
That’s what we do.
| Representing Advisors and Investors, Nationwide. |
Mark Astarita is a nationally recognized securities attorney, who represents investors, financial professionals and firms in securities litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, including SEC and FINRA investigations and enforcement proceedings.
He is a partner in the national securities law firm Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, and the founder of The Securities Law Home Page - SECLaw.com, which was one of the first legal topic sites on the Internet. It went online in 1995 and is updated daily with news, commentary and securities law related links.
