The judge in the Debt Box case has issued an 80 page opinion sanctioning the SEC for egregious misconduct in the case. The opinion is devastating to the SEC as an institution and to the particular lawyers who committed the misconduct. The judge made it crystal clear that the SEC lawyers did not make an error--they lied intentionally. In an opinion that will surely be cited by litigants across the country for years to come, the judge found that: "The critical evidence the Commission offered to obtain and defend the ex parte TRO lacked any basis in fact, yet the Commission nonetheless advanced that evidence in deliberately false and misleading ways." The SEC engaged in a "gross abuse of the power entrusted to it by Congress." The SEC "undermined the integrity of the judicial process." The judge has ordered the SEC to pay the attorneys' fees of the defendants in the case. This is a sad day. The SEC was once a great institution, respected around the globe for its competence and integrity. Now is a time for accountability. The judge found that the SEC engaged in a gross abuse of the power entrusted to it by Congress. Will Congress do anything about this?
Full opinion here. assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/1…
@MetaLawMan This part here says it all:
@MetaLawMan James, when things like this happen, do you think Judge Failla sees it? Does it matter to her?
This is as bad as it gets for lawyers: "Thus, in its Opposition the Commission not only exacerbated its misconduct from the TRO hearing by seeking to affirm and reiterate the false statement it had previously made— a statement it knew was false from the time it made it and failed to correct— but it engaged in further misconduct by communicating an additional false and misleading statement to the court after being confronted with irrefutable evidence of its error." --page 53 of the opinion.
@MetaLawMan Not really shocking to hear, but still very sad. The SEC is not the same anymore. Corrupt people destroyed this once great institution.
@MetaLawMan @MoonLamboio is going to have a field day with this!