⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Supreme Court considers whether the SEC must prove investors lost money before it can make a securities-law violator surrender illegal profits. Sripetch participated in fraudulent penny-stock schemes and consented to judgment. The district court ordered him to disgorge about three point three million dollars. Disgorgement measures the wrongdoer's gain; damages measure the victim's loss. Sripetch says disgorgement is equitable relief for victims, so without measurable financial harm it becomes a penalty that requires a jury. The SEC says Congress expressly authorized courts to strip unjust enrichment, whether or not investors lost money. The Ninth Circuit agreed with the SEC. After this argument, a unanimous Supreme Court affirmed. It held that investors can be victims when their legal rights were violated even without measurable financial loss, and disgorgement may strip the wrongdoer's gains. Justice Thomas agreed with the result but said Congress made the remedy legal, so the Seventh Amendment should require a jury in a future case.

Sripetch v. SEC (No. 25-466) — Supreme Court of the United States, argued April 20, 2026.