Nicolas Morgan

Former SEC Attorneys Ask Supreme Court to End 50-Year "Gag Rule" as Justices Weigh SEC Disgorgement Power in Sripetch Amicus brief filed by ICAN in Powell v. SEC argues the agency charged with stamping out misleading omissions has itself operated "the most sweeping compelled-omission regime in federal regulatory practice."

In the past several days, ICAN was at the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments in SEC v. Sripetch. We saw one of our own clients' cases—J.D. Jordan's—dismissed on the eve of those arguments. We filed a new amicus brief in Powell v. SEC challenging the SEC's decades-old "Gag Rule." And we saw FINRA formally adopt the reforms to the Pattern Day Trader rule that ICAN had publicly pushed for, with our comment letter cited in the SEC's approval order.

What is this costing the rest of us? The SEC is a federal agency funded by American taxpayers, created to protect investors and maintain the integrity of our markets. Cases like these are not that. There are years of agency resources, attorney hours, and taxpayer dollars spent pursuing individuals for technical violations—without fraud, without victims—that erode the confidence in participating in our markets. When financial professionals become familiar with how the SEC operates, they becom