U.S. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. Ahmed

343 F. Supp. 3d 16
District Court, D. Connecticut·Decided September 6, 2018·No. Civil No. 3:15cv675 (JBA)·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

What is disputed, however, is the SEC's additional request that the Court order Defendant to turn over all interest and returns from frozen assets from the time this Court entered [Doc. # 9] a Temporary Restraining Order on May 9, 2015. The SEC is not requesting that Mr. Ahmed pay prejudgment interest on frozen assets during the pendency of the asset freeze, but it contends that conversely, he is not entitled to interest or gains on assets while they were frozen, and those *29moneys should be disgorged and returned to Defendant's victims. Thus, while recognizing that it can be improper to collect prejudgment interest on "funds [that] have been frozen in connection with an enforcement action," the SEC claims it is entitled to disgorge the accumulated returns on frozen funds: "[F]rozen funds 'turned over to the government in complete or partial satisfaction of the disgorgement order' should be turned over 'along with any interest that has accrued on them during the freeze period.' " S.E.C. v. Tavella , 77 F.Supp.3d 353, 361 (S.D.N.Y. 2015) (quoting Razmilovic , 738 F.3d at 36 ). "Otherwise, a defendant might perversely benefit from the asset freeze by pocketing accumulated returns on the frozen principal." Id.

Defendants have not shown entitlement to interest and gains accrued during the pendency of the asset freeze and therefore the Court, as instructed by the Second Circuit in Razmilovic , orders the actual returns on the frozen assets, the amount of which have not yet been determined, must also be disgorged.

4. Civil Penalty7

Civil penalties are designed to punish the individual violator and deter future violations of the securities laws. SEC v. Moran , 944 F.Supp. 286, 296 (S.D.N.Y. 1996). The Securities Act and the Exchange Act authorize three tiers of civil penalties. See 15 U.S.C. § 77t(d) ; 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(3). Third tier penalties are appropriate where "the violation involved fraud, deceit, manipulation, or deliberate or reckless disregard of a regulatory requirement" and "directly or indirectly resulted in substantial losses or created a significant risk of substantial losses to other persons." Razmilovic , 738 F.3d at 38 (citation omitted). At each tier, "for each violation, the amount of penalty 'shall not exceed the greater of a specified monetary amount or the defendant's 'gross amount of pecuniary gain.' " Id. (quoting 15 U.S.C. §§ 77t(d)(2), 78u(d)(3)(B) ).

The actual amount of the penalty, within the bounds of the statute, is left to the discretion of the district court. Id. When making this determination, courts consider

(1) the egregiousness of the defendant's conduct; (2) the degree of the defendant's scienter; (3) whether the defendant's conduct created substantial losses or the risk of substantial losses to other persons; (4) whether the defendant's conduct was isolated or recurrent; and (5) whether the penalty should be reduced due to the defendant's demonstrated current and future financial condition.

SEC v. Haligiannis , 470 F.Supp.2d 373, 386 (S.D.N.Y. 2007).

The SEC asks the Court to impose a third-tier penalty equal to the amount of disgorgement, here roughly $41 million, based upon what it considers Defendant's egregious conduct. It argues that "Defendant engaged in premeditated, extensive, and continual fraud ... that was intended to (and did) inflict harm on those he was entrusted to help, so he could personally profit." (Pl.'s Mot. for Judgment at 16.) Relief Defendants maintain that *30there is no support in this Circuit for imposition of a penalty that is 100% of the total disgorgement, and instead that the penalty should be restricted to only 10-20%.8

Despite Defendants' protestations, there is no dispute that the Court is authorized, should it so choose, to impose a civil penalty equal to the amount ordered disgorged, representing Defendant's gross pecuniary gain. See 15 U.S.C. §§ 77t(d)(2), 78u(d)(3)(B). Other district courts have done so. See, e.g., S.E.C. v. Haligiannis , 470 F.Supp.2d 373, 386 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (ordering the "defendants to pay a penalty in the approximate amount of his ill-gotten gains: $15,000,000."); SEC v. BIC Real Estate Dev. Corp. , 2017 WL 1740136, at *6 (E.D. Cal. May 4, 2017) ("ordering the defendant to pay a penalty of $12,132,370, equal to his profit from wrongdoing"); SEC v. Zada , 787 F.3d 375, 383 (6th Cir. 2015) (upholding imposition of civil penalty, equal to the amount of ill-gotten gains, of over $56 million). On the other hand, some courts have declined to impose the maximum penalty. See, e.g., Sec. &Exch. Comm'n v. Nadel , No. CV110215WFKAKT, 2016 WL 639063, at *26 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 11, 2016), report and recommendation adopted , 206 F.Supp.3d 782 (E.D.N.Y. 2016) (imposing third-tier penalty in the amount of $1 million where the disgorgement award was nearly $11 million); Razmilovic , 822 F.Supp.2d at 281-82 (declining to impose maximum civil penalty of over $41 million, and instead imposing civil penalty of over $20 million, equal to one-half of the disgorgement amount).9

The Court finds that the circumstances and consequences of Defendant's conduct warrant a significant penalty.

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U.S. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. Ahmed, 343 F. Supp. 3d 16 (D. Conn. 2018).

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