The SEC is understandably loath to file subpoena enforcement actions. Such actions are basically a waste of time and resources–the SEC has subpoena power and the people to whom it issues subpoenas for documents or testimony are required by law to respond. Every minute the SEC has to spend getting a court to order people to do what they are already required to do (i.e., respond) is a waste of the agency’s time and energy.
Sometimes, however, the SEC has no choice but to wield the “stick” of subpoena enforcement when people simply won’t comply. Last week, the SEC announced that it had filed an action against Carlos R. Garza for his failure to provide testimony in its investigation of a company called Gaw Miners, LLC. The SEC stated that Garza was a salesman for GAW Miners who the SEC believed was knowledgeable about “GAW Miners’ potential misrepresentations to individuals who purchased shares in GAW Miners’ alleged mining operations, and rights in its new virtual currency.”
