Publications

Litigation Partners Michael Osnato and Meaghan Kelly, and Associate Stephanie Hon authored an article titled, “The Importance of the ‘How’ and the ‘Why’ in SEC Settlement Penalty Calculations,” which was published by New York Law Journal. The article discussed the SEC’s lack of transparency as to how settlement penalties were calculated per the statutory framework as well as why such penalties were appropriate under the circumstances. The piece further explored the adverse impacts of this lack of clarity, such as creating market confusion and deterring self-reporting behavior, among others. It concludes that even a modest articulation of what constitutes each act or omission causing a violation of the securities laws and quantification of the factors that influenced the penalty amount in settlement documents would import a measure of clarity, consistency, and predictability to the market and investors.

To read the full article, please click here (subscription required).