Marc J. Gabelli and Bruce Alpert, Petitioners v. Securities and Exchange Commission (568 U.S. 442)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 27, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 442 · 133 S. Ct. 1216
- Decided
- February 27, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court. The Investment Advisers Act makes it illegal for investment advisers to defraud their clients, and authorizes the Securities and Exchange Commission to seek civil penalties from advisers who do so. Under the general statute of limitations for civil penalty actions, the SEC has five years to seek such penalties. The question is whether the five-year clock begins to tick when the fraud is complete or when the fraud is discovered. I A Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, it is unlawful for an investment adviser “to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud any client or prospective client” or “to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or prospective client.” 54 Stat. 852, as amended, 15 U. S. C. §§ 80b—6(1), (2). The SEC is authorized to bring enforcement actions against investment advisers who violate the Act, or individuals who aid and abet such violations. § 80b-9(d). As part of such enforcement actions, the SEC may seek civil penalties, §§80b-9(e), (f) (2006 ed. and Supp. V), in which ease a five-year statute of limitations applies: “Except as otherwise provided by Act of Congress, an action, suit or proceeding for the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture, pecuniary or otherwise, shall not be entertained unless…
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