ANALYSIS: SEC Enforcement Policies at Odds with Focus on Compliance, Attorney Says

Despite the Securities and Exchange Commission’s renewed emphasis on the importance of compliance at regulated entities, the SEC staff—and the agency itself—have yet to embrace the concept of reliance on the advice of a compliance official as a defense to fraudulent intent, Chicago attorney Randall D. Lehner, Ulmer & Berne LLP, said Jan. 27 in a BNA interview.

By contrast, he pointed out, reliance on advice of counsel is a widely recognized defense. Accordingly, if securities professionals want to be “safe” in an enforcement situation, they’ve “got to go to outside counsel as well.”

Increasing Emphasis