The US Supreme Court reinforced the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to recover illegal profits in a case that centered on one of the agency’s most potent enforcement tools.
The justices ruled unanimously Thursday that SEC doesn’t have to show identifiable investor harm in order to win “disgorgement” from people and firms found to have violated federal securities laws.
The ruling will shape a panoply of SEC cases in which victims aren’t easy to pinpoint, from low-profile record-keeping violations to major insider trading allegations. The SEC used disgorgement to secure orders for more than $6 billion in fiscal 2024 and ...