Judge Wood
http://nycourts.law.com/CourtDocumentViewer.asp?view=Document&docID=118614
DEFENDANT, a 63-year-old retired seamstress, lives in Croatia. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged her participation in an insider trading scheme by allowing trades to be executed through two brokerage accounts held in her name. Defendant answered neither the SEC’s original complaint nor its Fourth Amended Complaint, charging her with various securities laws violations and claiming more than $2 million in trades had been executed through the accounts. The SEC’s renewed Sept. 16, 2009, motion sought default judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55. It also sought injunction against defendant’s future securities laws violations; that more than $2.6 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest be awarded; and that civil penalties of treble defendant’s ill-gotten gains be assessed. The court granted the SEC default judgment, awarded disgorgement and interest in the amount of $2,6 million and found that the evidence supported a civil penalty of $3 million, 1.5 times defendant’s ill-gotten gains. The court noted the evidence showed defendant’s violation of securities laws and a reasonable likelihood of future violations.
