US Appeals Court Orders SEC to Bring Enforcement Actions to Jury Trials

The SEC alleged in 2013 that George Jarkesy Jr. and his firm, Patriot28 LLC, violated federal securities law by misstating his hedge funds’ assets. The case was tried before an administrative law judge, rather than before a civil court. These administrative law judges, or in-house judges, may have violated Jarkesy’s seventh amendment rights to a jury trial, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling Wednesday.