SEC Litigation Releases Database
The Litigation Releases Database provides access to all SEC litigations from 1995 to present, including civil lawsuits against individuals, companies and other entities for violations of securities laws, settlements, final judgements, injunctions, and more. The database includes structured data in JSON format extracted from SEC litigation releases, providing the following information:
- Publication date of the litigation release
- Name and roles of parties being charged and involved, including their tickers and CIKs
- Nature of the charges and complaints
- Penalty amounts and whether settlements were reached
- Parallel actions taken by other agencies, such as criminal charges by the Department of Justice
- Requested reliefs, such as injunctions and civil penalties
- Violated securities laws
- Persons conducting the investigation and litigating the case
- Other agencies involved in the investigation
Users can search the Litigation Releases Database by all of the above fields via an API. The database also includes links to related documents, such as court filings, original SEC press releases, and more.
Examples of litigation releases include charges related to insider trading, bribery, market manipulation, misleading investors, and other violations of securities laws. The database is updated in real-time as new litigation releases are published by the SEC.
Dataset size:
Over 10,000 SEC litigation releases from 1995 to present.
Data update frequency:
New releases are added to the database as they are published by the SEC in real-time.
Survivorship bias free:
Yes. The database includes all SEC litigations released from 1995 to present.
API Endpoint
To search the Litigation Releases Database, send a HTTP POST request with the search criteria as JSON payload to the following API endpoint:
https://api.sec-api.io/sec-litigation-releases
Supported HTTP methods: POST
Request and response content type: JSON
Authentication
To authenticate your API requests, use the API key displayed in your user profile. You can utilize your API key in one of two ways. Choose the method that best fits your use case:
- Authorization Header: Include your API key as an
Authorizationheader in your requests. For instance, before sending aPOSTrequest tohttps://api.sec-api.io/sec-litigation-releases, ensure the header is set as follows:Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY. - Query Parameter: Alternatively, append your API key directly to the URL as a query parameter. For example, when making
POSTrequests, use the URLhttps://api.sec-api.io/sec-litigation-releases?token=YOUR_API_KEYinstead of the base endpoint.
Search API
To search the Enforcement Actions Database, make a POST request to https://api.sec-api.io/sec-litigation-releases, providing your search criteria as a JSON payload.
Request Structure
The Search API recognizes the following JSON payload parameters:
query(string, required) - The search criteria in the formatfield:valuedefining the structured datafieldto search in and thevalueto search for in this field. The search expression is formatted with the Lucene syntax and supportsANDandORoperators. Examples:entities.ticker:TWTRortags:bribery AND releasedAt:[2019-01-01 TO 2022-12-31].from(string, optional) - Pagination control to specify the starting position of the results. Max: 10000. Default: 0.size(string, optional) - Determines the number of results to be returned per request. Max: 50. Default: 50.sort(array, optional) - Specifies the field by which results should be sorted. By default, results are sorted byreleasedAtin descending order.
Query Examples
Loading All Data
To download structured data for all litigation releases published between 1995 and 2024, you can use a date range query as shown below. The search request will return the first 50 results. To retrieve additional results, paginate through the dataset by incrementing the from parameter by 50 with each subsequent request.
JSON
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{
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"query": "releasedAt:[2024-01-01 TO 2024-12-31]",
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"from": 0, // set to 50 for the next page, then 100, 150, etc.
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"size": 50,
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"sort": [{ "releasedAt": { "order": "desc" } }]
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}
The API can return a maximum of 10,000 results per query. Since there are more than 10,000 litigation releases between 1995 and 2024, you need to divide the search universe into smaller date ranges, such as by year. For instance:
- Fetch all releases from 2024 with
releasedAt:[2024-01-01 TO 2024-12-31], incrementing thefromparameter by 50 for each additional request. - Once all releases from 2024 have been retrieved, repeat the process for 2023, 2022, and earlier years until all data has been fetched.
Monitoring Most Recent Litigation Releases
To monitor the most recent litigation releases published by the SEC, you can use the following search request. This request will return the 50 most recent litigation releases. You can then periodically query the API to retrieve the latest litigation releases, for example, every 60 seconds.
JSON
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{
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"query": "releaseNo:*",
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"from": 0,
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"size": 50,
5
"sort": [{ "releasedAt": { "order": "desc" } }]
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}
Searching for Specific Companies
If you are interested in litigation releases involving specific companies, you can use the ticker or cik filters. The example will return litigations involving Twitter (ticker: TWTR, CIK: 1418091).
JSON
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{
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"query": "entities.ticker:TWTR", // or "entities.cik:1418091"
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"from": 0,
4
"size": 50,
5
"sort": [{ "releasedAt": { "order": "desc" } }]
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}
Response Structure
The Search API returns a JSON object with two main fields: total and data. The total field indicates the total number of results matching the search criteria, while the data field contains an array of enforcement actions that match the query. Each object in the data array represents a litigation release and includes the following fields:
id(string) - A system internal unique identifier of the enforcement action.releaseNo(string) - The SEC release number of the litigation, e.g.,LR-26219.releasedAt(string) - The publication date and time of the litigation release, e.g.2024-08-27T13:30:00-04:00. Format:yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssXXX.url(string) - The URL to the original SEC litigation release.resources(array of objects) - An array of objects withlabelandurlfields, providing links to related documents, such as complaints.title(string) - The title of the litigation release.subTitle(string) - The sub title of the litigation release.caseCitations(array of strings) - The case citations of the litigation release, such as "Securities and Exchange Commission v. Elon Musk, No. 1:25-cv-00105 (D.D.C. filed Jan. 14, 2025)"summary(string) - A brief summary of the litigation.tags(array of strings) - Tags associated with the litigation, such asbribery,insider trading, etc.entities(array of objects) - An array of objects representing the parties involved in the litigation. Thetickerandcikfields are optional and are only present if thenamewas successfully matched to a known publicly traded company.name(string) - The name of the party involved.type(string) - The type of the party, such asindividual,company, orother.role(string) - The role of the party, such asrespondent,defendant,affected entityorother.ticker(string) - The ticker symbol of the party, if available.cik(string) - The Central Index Key (CIK) of the party, if available.
complaints(array of strings) - An array of complaints or charges, such as "Magyar Telekom paid approximately $9 million through four sham contracts to funnel money to government officials in Montenegro."parallelActionsTakenBy(array of strings) - An array of other agencies that took parallel actions related to the enforcement action, such asU.S. Department of Justicein case of criminal charges.hasAgreedToSettlement(boolean) - Indicates whether the defendant has agreed to a settlement.hasAgreedToPayPenalty(boolean) - Indicates whether the defendant has agreed to pay a penalty.penaltyAmounts(array of objects) - An array of penalty objects withpenaltyAmount,penaltyAmountTextandimposedOnfields. Each object represents a penalty imposed on a party involved in the enforcement action. A charge can have multiple penalties, for example, if multiple defendants are involved.penaltyAmount(string) - The cleaned penalty amount in USD.penaltyAmountText(string) - The original penalty amount as stated in the enforcement action.imposedOn(string) - The party on which the penalty was imposed.
requestedRelief(array of strings) - An array of requested reliefs, such asdisgorgement of profits,injunction,civil penalty, etc.violatedSections(array of strings) - An array of securities laws violated by the defendants, such asSection 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934orForeign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).investigationConductedBy(array of strings) - An array of persons or entities that conducted the investigation leading to the enforcement action.litigationLedBy(array of strings) - An array of persons or entities that litigated the case.otherAgenciesInvolved(array of objects) - An array of other agency objects (name,country) involved in the investigation or litigation, such as the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (Switzerland) in case of international cooperation.
Response Example
JSON
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{
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"total": {
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"value": 273,
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"relation": "eq"
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},
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"data": [
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{
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"id": "9278fd9576b7bafd08c5f3def2793b0c",
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"releaseNo": "LR-26115",
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"releasedAt": "2024-09-20T16:07:45-04:00",
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"url": "https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26115",
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"title": "DiScala et al.,",
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"subTitle": "SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Eighth Defendant in CodeSmart Fraud",
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"caseCitations": [
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"Securities and Exchange Commission v. DiScala et al., No. 1:14-cv-04346 (E.D.N.Y. filed July 17, 2014; amended Jan. 19, 2016)."
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],
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"resources": [
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{
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"label": "Judgment",
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"url": "https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/litreleases/2024/judg26115.pdf"
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}
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],
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"summary": "The SEC obtained a final judgment against Abraxas (A.J.) DiScala for his role in the CodeSmart fraud, resulting in a permanent injunction and disgorgement of over $2.4 million.",
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"tags": [
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"securities fraud",
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"disclosure fraud"
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],
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"entities": [
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{
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"name": "Abraxas (A.J.) DiScala",
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"type": "individual",
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"role": "defendant"
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},
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{
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"name": "CodeSmart, Inc.",
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"type": "company",
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"role": "subject of fraud"
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}
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],
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"complaints": [
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"Discala and co-defendants inflated the price of CodeSmart stock and profited at the expense of brokerage customers.",
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"Discala and co-defendants engaged in an illegal unregistered offering of restricted shares.",
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"Discala and co-defendants conducted a promotional campaign with misleading press releases.",
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"Discala and co-defendants dumped shares causing CodeSmart's stock price to crash, resulting in investor losses."
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],
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"parallelActionsTakenBy": [
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"U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York"
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],
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"hasAgreedToSettlement": true,
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"hasAgreedToPayPenalty": true,
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"penaltyAmounts": [
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{
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"penaltyAmount": "2400000",
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"penaltyAmountText": "over $2.4 million",
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"imposedOn": "Abraxas (A.J.) DiScala"
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}
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],
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"requestedRelief": [
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"permanent injunction",
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"officer-and-director bar",
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"penny stock bar",
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"disgorgement of ill-gotten gains"
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],
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"violatedSections": [
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"Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933",
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"Sections 9(a) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934",
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"Rule 10b-5"
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],
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"investigationConductedBy": [
70
"Todd Brody",
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"Lindsay S. Moilanen",
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"New York Regional Office"
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],
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"litigationLedBy": [
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"Todd Brody",
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"Lindsay S. Moilanen"
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],
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"otherAgenciesInvolved": [
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{
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"name": "Federal Bureau of Investigation",
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"country": "United States"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"id": "565b0769ead27a8a6743886f669024e5",
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"releaseNo": "LR-26044",
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"releasedAt": "2024-07-02T20:54:02-04:00",
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"url": "https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26044",
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"title": "Silvergate Capital Corporation, Alan J. Lane, Kathleen Fraher, and Antonio Martino",
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"subTitle": "Former Chief Risk Officer and former CFO also charged for misleading investors",
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"caseCitations": [
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"Securities and Exchange Commission v. Silvergate Capital Corporation et al., No. 1:24-cv-04987 (S.D.N.Y. July 1, 2024)"
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],
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"resources": [
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{
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"label": "SEC Complaint",
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"url": "https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2024/comp26044.pdf"
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}
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],
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"summary": "The SEC charged Silvergate Capital Corporation and its former executives for misleading investors about their compliance program and financial condition, with most parties agreeing to settlements involving penalties and injunctions.",
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"tags": [
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"disclosure fraud",
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"crypto",
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"compliance failure"
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],
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"entities": [
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{
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"name": "Silvergate Capital Corporation",
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"type": "company",
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"role": "defendant"
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},
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{
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"name": "Alan J. Lane",
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"type": "individual",
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"role": "defendant"
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},
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{
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"name": "Kathleen Fraher",
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"type": "individual",
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"role": "defendant"
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},
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{
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"name": "Antonio Martino",
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"type": "individual",
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"role": "defendant"
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}
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],
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"complaints": [
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"Silvergate misled investors about the strength of its BSA/AML compliance program and monitoring of crypto customers.",
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"Silvergate and Martino misrepresented the company's financial condition during a liquidity crisis following FTX's collapse."
132
],
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"parallelActionsTakenBy": [
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"Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System",
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"California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation"
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],
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"hasAgreedToSettlement": true,
138
"hasAgreedToPayPenalty": true,
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"penaltyAmounts": [
140
{
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"penaltyAmount": "50000000",
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"penaltyAmountText": "$50 million",
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"imposedOn": "Silvergate Capital Corporation"
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},
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{
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"penaltyAmount": "1000000",
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"penaltyAmountText": "$1 million",
148
"imposedOn": "Alan J. Lane"
149
},
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{
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"penaltyAmount": "250000",
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"penaltyAmountText": "$250,000",
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"imposedOn": "Kathleen Fraher"
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}
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],
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"requestedRelief": [
157
"permanent injunctions",
158
"civil penalties",
159
"officer-and-director bars"
160
],
161
"violatedSections": [
162
"Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933",
163
"Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act of 1934",
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"Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-11, and 13a-13",
165
"Sections 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act",
166
"Section 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act"
167
],
168
"investigationConductedBy": [
169
"Elizabeth Goody",
170
"Michael Keating",
171
"Amy Mayer",
172
"Heidi Mitza",
173
"Pasha Salimi",
174
"Ivan Snyder",
175
"Katherine Stella",
176
"Katherine Zucca",
177
"Leigh Barrett",
178
"Margaret McGuire",
179
"Mark R. Sylvester",
180
"Michael Brennan",
181
"Jorge G. Tenreiro"
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],
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"litigationLedBy": [
184
"Hayden Brockett",
185
"Peter Mancuso",
186
"Laura Meehan",
187
"Jack Kaufman",
188
"Jorge G. Tenreiro"
189
],
190
"otherAgenciesInvolved": [
191
{
192
"name": "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System",
193
"country": "United States"
194
},
195
{
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"name": "California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation",
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"country": "United States"
198
}
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]
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}
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]
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}