This blog has been tracking the SEC’s federal court trials going back to the beginning of FY 2014, and the results in each case. In the SEC’s FY 2016 that ended September 30, 2016, its record in federal court trials was 4-1-1*. That is, in its six federal court trials, the SEC had four outright victories in which it won on all of its claims, one loss, and one mixed verdict in which it won on some claims and lost on others.
The SEC’s FY 2016 record of 4-1-1 comes with an asterisk, the need for which was highlighted in a statement made last week by SEC Chair Mary Jo White. In a speech she made on Friday, November 18, 2016, Chair White asserted that the agency had “not lost a jury trial in federal district court in two and a half years.” This statement appears to be inconsistent with the June 2016 loss noted above in SEC v. Goldstone, et al. In Goldstone, a federal jury in New Mexico found against the SEC and in favor of two former executives of Thornburg Mortgage on five counts, and was unable to reach a verdict on five others. However, in August 2016, the court in the Goldstone case granted the SEC’s motion for a new trial (in February 2017) on the counts on which the jury was hung, so it appears that the agency is not ready to accept the loss in Goldstone just yet.
