A case of bad timing for Fabrice "Fab" Tourre, who was the lone individual fingered by the SEC in the ABACUS fiasco and who has yet to settle. He was dealt a blow when federal judge Barbara Jones nixed his attempt to have the SEC charges against him disallowed.

His lawyers argued that a Supreme Court ruling in June that U.S. securities laws don't apply to claims of foreign buyers of non-U.S. securities on foreign exchanges rendered the SEC charges inadmissible in court. But Judge Jones ruled that because the SEC sued before the Supreme Court decision came out in June, the agency can file an amended complaint, according to Bloomberg.

So what does this mean? I think the chances of a settlement just went up. It's really a matter of terms. I doubt Goldman Sachs, which remains Tourre's employer, will want this to go to court, as it might require various executives to testify--and that wouldn't be great for the bank trying to put the whole episode behind it.

It also depends on Tourre himself. He might choose to make a principled stand, which would be very interesting.

For more:
- here's the article

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