Friday, December 16, 2011

SEC Enforcement Director's Statement on Citigroup Case

The SEC’s Director of the Division of Enforcement, Robert Khuzami, made the following statement on the Citigroup case:

Last month, a federal district court declined to approve a consent judgment because, in its view, the underlying allegations were ‘unsupported by any proven or acknowledged facts.’ As a result, the court rejected a $285 million settlement between the SEC and Citigroup that reasonably reflected the relief the SEC would likely have obtained if it prevailed at trial.

We believe the district court committed legal error by announcing a new and unprecedented standard that inadvertently harms investors by depriving them of substantial, certain and immediate benefits. For this reason, today we filed papers seeking review of the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit..."

The full statement can be found at: SEC Enforcement Director's Statement on Citigroup Case