Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1501_8n5a.pdf
Page Number: 20.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

17 

Opinion of the Court 

“for the benefit of investors” and is consistent with the lim-
itations of §78u(d)(5).  The parties have not identified au-
thorities  revealing  what  traditional  equitable  principles 
govern  when,  for  instance,  the  wrongdoer’s  profits  cannot 
practically  be  disbursed  to  the  victims.    But  we  need  not 
address the issue here.  The parties do not identify a specific 
order in this case directing any proceeds to the Treasury.  If 
one is entered on remand, the lower courts may evaluate in
the  first  instance  whether  that  order  would  indeed  be  for 
the benefit of investors as required by §78u(d)(5) and con-
sistent with equitable principles. 

B 
The SEC additionally has sought to impose disgorgement
liability on a wrongdoer for benefits that accrue to his affil-
iates,  sometimes  through  joint-and-several  liability,  in  a 
manner sometimes seemingly at odds with the common-law 
rule requiring individual liability for wrongful profits.  See, 
e.g., SEC v. Contorinis, 743 F. 3d 296, 302 (CA2 2014) (hold-
ing  that  a  defendant  could  be  forced  to  disgorge  not  only 
what he “personally enjoyed from his exploitation of inside 
information, but also the profits of such exploitation that he
channeled to friends, family, or clients”); SEC v. Clark, 915 
F. 2d 439, 454 (CA9 1990) (“It is well settled that a tipper
can  be  required  to  disgorge  his  tippee’s  profits”);  SEC  v. 
Whittemore, 659 F. 3d 1, 10 (CADC 2011) (approving joint-
and-several disgorgement liability where there is a close re-
lationship between the defendants and collaboration in ex-
ecuting the wrongdoing).

That  practice  could  transform  any  equitable  profits-fo-
cused remedy into a penalty.  Cf. Marshall, 15 Wall., at 149. 
And it runs against the rule to not impose joint liability in
favor of holding defendants “liable to account for such prof-
its only as have accrued to themselves . . . and not for those 
which have accrued to another, and in which they have no