Barton v. Securities and Exchange Commission

Issue: Whether 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(5) and its authorization for the Securities and Exchange Commission to seek “equitable relief” allow the SEC and a district court to use that general equitable authority to order a receivership — seizing every company owned by a defendant that benefitted to the slightest degree from the proceeds of his allegedly illegal acts — and thereby deprive the defendant of the resources to defend himself in a parallel criminal trial.