Financial Services Report – Fall 2015

BELTWAY

Straight Out of the Seventh Circuit

The Seventh Circuit recently affirmed a lower court's ruling that the SEC cannot be sued in district court to stop it from bringing an administrative action. Bebo v. SEC, No. 15-1511, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14844 (7th Cir. Aug. 24, 2015). The ruling is significant because district courts in Georgia and New York recently decided to freeze similar administrative proceedings on the grounds that the appointment of certain SEC judges was "likely unconstitutional." Although this ruling shields the SEC's administrative process from attack in the Seventh Circuit, it does not impact a defendant's ability to file proceedings for review of an administrative law judge's ruling on the merits.