Securities Litigation

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's disciplinary appellate body (the National Adjudicatory Council or NAC) has revised the Sanction Guidelines used to determine penalties in enforcement cases. The revisions increase the severity of some Guidelines and generally index monetary fines to the Consumer Price Index. Key among the changes, the NAC:

• Urges "strong consideration" of individual bars or firm expulsion for intentional fraud or cases in which aggravating circumstances predominate
• Emphasizes more severe sanctions for recidivists;
• Increases the upper range of sanctions and fines for unsuitable recommendations;
• Index monetary penalties to the CPI back to 1998, and at three-year intervals, going forward.

The changes were announced in Reg. Notice 15-15 (May 11, 2015). As revised, the Sanctions Guidelines are here. Thomas K. Potter, III (tpotter@burr.com) is a partner in the Securities Litigation Practice Group at Burr & Forman, LLP. Resident in the Nashville office, Tom is licensed in Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana. He has over 28 years' experience representing financial institutions in litigation, regulatory and compliance matters. See attorney profile. © 2015 by Thomas K. Potter, III (all rights reserved).