Facts of the Case

Provided by Oyez

From roughly 2013 to 2019, Ongkaruck Sripetch ran fraudulent schemes involving at least 20 penny-stock companies, including stock scalping, wash and matched trading, unregistered securities sales, and pump-and-dump promotions. After the SEC brought a civil enforcement action, Sripetch consented to judgment on liability, and the district court ordered $2.25 million in disgorgement plus more than $1 million in interest. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, deepening a circuit split by holding that the SEC may obtain disgorgement without proving investors suffered pecuniary harm.

Questions

  1. May the SEC seek equitable disgorgement under 15 U.S.C. §§ 78u(d)(5) and (d)(7) without showing investors suffered pecuniary harm?

Conclusions

  1. On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Sripetch v. SEC that the SEC may obtain disgorgement of a securities-fraud defendant's ill-gotten gains without proving that investors suffered pecuniary loss, because disgorgement is an equitable remedy measured by the wrongdoer's gain rather than the victim's loss.