An early challenge for Mary Jo White as the new Securities and Exchange Commission chairman is how she handles SEC v. Citigroup Global Markets, a closely watched Second Circuit appeal from a judge’s refusal to sign off on the SEC’s proposed $285 million settlement with Citigroup.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff dismissed the settlement as "pocket change," for which the SEC had not even extracted an admission of fault in the allegedly fraudulent $1 billion synthetic, collateralized-debt-obligation derivatives deal.
