Tenth Circuit Affirms Ruling Allowing SEC to Bring Securities Fraud Claims Over Certain Foreign Transactions

Last week, in SEC v. Scoville, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that Dodd-Frank allows the Securities and Exchange Commission to bring fraud claims based on sales of securities to foreign buyers where defendants engage in fraudulent conduct within the United States.

In so holding, the Court concluded that Dodd-Frank abrogated in part the Supreme Court’s rule, announced in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., that fraud claims under the federal securities laws can only be brought with respect to transactions in securities listed on a U.S. exchange or transactions in other securities in the U.S.  If adopted more broadly, this ruling would restore in government enforcement actions the more expansive conduct-and-effects test that the Morrison Court rejected.