To settle or to litigate? That is the question posed by a new analysis of litigated disciplinary proceedings brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA against broker-dealers, registered representatives, and associated persons.
The choice for broker-dealers facing charges is not always so obvious, although trying to reach a settlementand avoiding litigious entanglement with a regulatory agencyis often tempting. Generally, when people think about the regulators, they think they wont have any chance at all, says Brian Rubin, a partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan who led the firms annual review [PDF] of these proceedings.
