In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court preserved the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to seek disgorgement without having to show identifiable investor harm in every enforcement action. The ruling is a significant win for the agency, which has long relied on disgorgement to strip alleged wrongdoers of ill-gotten gains in cases ranging from accounting and books-and-records violations to insider trading and broader fraud claims.

The practical takeaway is straightforward: the SEC retains a powerful remedial tool even where the connection between misconduct and a specific victim’s financial loss may be difficult to trace.

The U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to seek disgorgement of ill-gotten gains in fraud cases, preserving a remedy that has long been central to the agency’s enforcement playbook. For securities litigators and compliance professionals, the ruling matters not just as a doctrinal win for the SEC, but as a practical confirmation that one of the agency’s strongest settlement and deterrence tools remains available.

Disgorgement allows the SEC to force defendants to give up profits allegedly obtained through unlawful conduct.