The SEC initially conceded it misled the court but argued a sanction wasn't appropriate.
A United States district court has imposed sanctions on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for acting in "bad faith" in a lawsuit it brought against Debt Box.
The SEC initially filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice but that was denied by Judge Robert J. Shelby, who slammed the regulator for intentionally lying to the court about evidence it obtained to secure a temporary restraining order and freeze of Debt Box's assets last August.
"The Commission’s above-discussed conduct constitutes a gross abuse of the power entrusted to it by Congress and substantially undermined the integrity of these proceedings and the judicial process," Shelby said in the March 18 filing.
