Citing that "irreparable" harm can arise if its civil securities fraud case against Citigroup is not delayed, the SEC filed an emergency request with Federal Judge Jed Rakoff to have the lawsuit put on hold.  The SEC is concerned that forcing Citigroup to answer the SEC complaint, as Judge Rakoff has ordered, can force Citigroup to deny some or all of the SEC allegations, or even seek dismissal of the case in its entirety.  The SEC said Citigroup would agree to have the case placed on hold, allowing for an expedited appeal of Judge Rakoff's earlier order. What the SEC and Citigroup are referring to is a deadline set by Judge Jed Rakoff during an 11/28/11 teleconference, in which the judge gave Citigroup until 1/3/12 to "answer" the SEC complaint - 27 days sooner than federal rules require.  Tuesday's SEC filing with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in NY seeks an expedited appeal of the 11/28 decision by Judge  Rakoff after he harshly rejected the SEC's $285 million accord with Citigroup. Rakoff said that because the SEC did not require the New York-based bank to admit or deny its charges, he had no way to know whether the settlement was adequate. But the SEC said the ruling was "legal error," at odds with decades of court decisions allowing such settlements and letting investors get faster recoveries, and could affect its ability to reach similar accords with other companies. Settlement Was Announced 10/19/11. The agreement reached by the SEC and Citigroup - a $285 million settlement -  was intended to resolve charges that Citigroup sold $1 billion of risky mortgage-linked securities in 2007, without disclosing to investors that the bank was betting against the debt.  Investors ultimately lost more than $700mn according to SEC estimates. Aside from the 1/3/12 deadline, Judge Rakoff has called for a 7/16/12 trial date. The case is SEC v Citigroup Global Markets Inc, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-05227.   For more go to , [Reuters 12/27/11].