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SEC ends gag rule

SEC entrance exterior
Photo: krblokhin/Getty Images

For more than 50 years, the rule prohibited settling defendants from publicly denying the SEC’s claims.

The SEC has rescinded Rule 202.5(e), its longstanding policy that required defendants settling cases to agree to not publicly deny the agency’s allegations – or risk the agency reopening its case­. The SEC also said it will not enforce existing no-deny provisions.

The policy, colloquially known as the “gag rule,”