01 · WHAT IT MEANS
An SEC subpoena is a formal demand for documents or testimony in a securities investigation. It is not a charge, and it is not a verdict - it is the government telling you that your records, or your account of events, now matter to an open file. The distinction between a witness, a subject, and a target determines everything about how you respond.
THE SHORT VERSION
A subpoena is a question, not an accusation. How you answer decides which one it becomes.
02 · THE THREE MOVES
01
Preserve everything. Suspend document destruction immediately - deletion after service is its own federal charge.
02
Say nothing to the agency. Every voluntary statement is on the record. Courtesy calls are interviews.
03
Get counsel before the deadline. Scope, timing, and privilege can all be negotiated - but only before you produce.
FIG. - THE PRODUCTION REVIEW
03 · WHEN TO CALL
The day it arrives. Strategy starts the day you call - and the earliest decisions in a securities matter are the ones that cannot be unmade. We have defended SEC and DOJ matters from first subpoena through trial, nationwide.
THE ASK
Holding a subpoena right now?