The Securities and Exchange Commission has permanently barred a New York lawyer from practicing before the commission after finding he had engaged in unethical conduct with a “high degree of scienter” making “future violations likely.”
An administrative law judge last year had found that the lawyer, Steven Altman, had offered to help his client avoid a subpoena or testify falsely in exchange for a severance package from a broker-dealer that was facing an SEC proceeding. The judge recommended banning Mr. Altman from appearing before the SEC for nine months. The agency’s five commissioners upheld the administrative law judge’s findings but extended the ban for life.
