FINRA Revises Sanction Guidelines
FINRA RN 11-13
March 22, 2011
FINRA published a regulatory notice to advise firms of recent amendments to its Sanction Guidelines. The amendments (i) clarify the causation standard for when adjudicators order restitution; (ii) recognize that adjudicators may order ill-gotten gains be paid to injured parties; (iii) reflect that not every factor in the "principal considerations" may be aggravating and mitigating; and (iv) direct adjudicators to consider sanctions imposed by other regulators when imposing new sanctions. The revisions, which are derived from recent case law, are effective immediately.
Cross References
FINRA Sanction Guidelines
In re Michael Frederick Siegel, SEC Release No. 34-62324, at *3 (June 18, 2010)
Dept. of Enforcement v. Mission Secs. Corp., 2010 FINRA Discip. LEXIS 1, at *47-48, aff'd SEC Release No. 34-63453 (December 7, 2010)
Siegel v. SEC, 592 F.3d 147, 157 (D.C. Cir. 2010)
Rooms v. SEC, 444 F.3d 1208, 1214-15 (10th Cir. 2006)