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"Without any jail time, what's the disincentive?" The SEC doesn't have the authority to file criminal charges they can only pursue things themselves in civil c
by pmorici 12y ago
"Without any jail time, what's the disincentive?"
The SEC doesn't have the authority to file criminal charges they can only pursue things themselves in civil court.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-so-few-securities-fraud-cases-are-criminally-prosecuted/ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-so-few-securi...
- rayiner 12y agoWhich is a damn good thing. Do you really want criminal charges being brought for something jurors can't understand as being bad without digging through obscure accounting and finance concepts?
- dragonwriter 12y ago> The SEC doesn't have the authority to file criminal charges they can only pursue things themselves in civil court. There are criminal laws that apply to securities fraud, and the SEC is supposed to refer violations to the Justice Department, which can file criminal charges. So, while this is true, it isn't really relevant to the criticism raised (which indicate that the absence of jail time was a problem, but did not indicate that the source of the problem was the SEC; all pointing out the boundaries on what the SEC can do "in house" is relevant to is which box on the federal org chart should be the target of complaints.)