Securities
May 19, 2026
SEC ends decades-old 'gag rule' in settlements
SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins announced the agency is abandoning its longstanding "no-deny" settlement policy, which had faced growing constitutional challenges and is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday rescinded a decades-old policy critics labeled a "gag rule," eliminating a requirement that defendants settling civil enforcement actions agree not to publicly deny the agency's allegations.
"For more than 50 years, the Commission has conditioned settlement on a defendant's promise not to publicly deny the Commission's allegations. I am pleased that we are rescinding the no-deny policy today," sa...
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