Kramer Levin Files Amicus Brief for SIFMA in the U.S. Supreme Court

On March 3, 2017, Kramer Levin filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), an association of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers.

The brief supports the position of the petitioner, Charles Kokesh, that the Supreme Court should reverse the Tenth Circuit’s ruling that SEC claims for disgorgement are not subject to the five-year statute of limitations for government actions to enforce “any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture, pecuniary or otherwise” in 28 U.S.C. § 2462.

The amicus brief argues that the five-year limitations period applies to SEC disgorgement claims. “Disgorgement, however labeled, is a punitive remedy that falls within Section 2462’s express reference to a ‘penalty’ or ‘forfeiture’,” said Michael Dell, counsel of record. “The Supreme Court recognized in Gabelli that settled principles of certainty, repose and elimination of stale claims require the application of Section 2462’s five-year limitations period as a check on the government’s power to punish through civil enforcement penalties.”

The case is Charles R. Kokesh v. Securites and Exchange Commission, No. 16-529.

The brief was reported in Law360.