Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White said that the agency will seek more admissions of wrongdoing from defendants as a condition of settling enforcement cases, Bloomberg News reported today. The SEC's change in policy would probably apply to cases in which investors were significantly harmed and the alleged fraud was egregious. White said last month that she was reviewing the practice of settling cases without requiring defendants to admit misconduct. The SEC’s practice of settling cases without requiring admissions has been criticized by lawmakers, consumer groups and jurists including U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, who in November 2011 rejected a proposed $285 million settlement with Citigroup Inc.
