Cameron Elliot reported for duty on Monday as the SEC's newest Administrative Law Judge.   Mr. Elliot has been based in New York as an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration since June 2008.  He previously was an attorney at the New York law firm of Darby & Darby, where he handled intellectual property litigation. 

Mr. Elliot also spent 8 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, starting in 1998 as a trial attorney in Washington, D.C..  From late 2001 to mid-2006, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney - first in the Southern District of Florida, then in the Eastern District of New York.  Mr. Elliot graduated from Harvard Law in 1996 and clerked for Judge Edward Reed in the U.S. District Court in Nevada.  He holds a BS in physics and applied physics from Yale, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1987.  He then served for 6 years as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve.

        Administrative Law Judge, Defined.    They are independent judicial officers who rule on allegations of securities law violations in public administrative proceedings instituted by the SEC.  They conduct public hearings, in a manner similar to non-jury trials in federal district courts, issue initial decisions, and have authority to impose a broad range of sanctions.  Those sanctions include:

• suspending or revoking the registration of registered securities, B/D's, MF's, IA's, muni securities dealers, muni advisors, transfer agents, and rating organizations.
• ordering disgorgement, civil penalties, censures, and cease-and-desist orders against these entities, as well as individuals, and can suspend or bar persons from association with these entities or from participating in an offering of penny stock.

Parties may appeal an administrative law judge’s decision to the five-member Commission, which can affirm, reverse, or modify it, set it aside, or remand it for further proceedings. Appeals from Commission decisions are to a U.S. Court of Appeals.   [SEC Release 11-96, 4/25]