A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday rejected a former New York trader’s challenge to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of tolling agreements, upholding a commonly used tool for extending agency probes.

The ruling said the agreements, which are generally seen as beneficial to both sides of SEC investigations, did not run afoul of the five-year statute of limitations for bringing enforcement actions, and thus could be enforced in federal court.