Occupy the SEC Sues Agencies to Compel Implementation of Volcker Rule

Members of Occupy the SEC, an unincorporated association that advocates for regulatory reforms in the banking and financial system, have filed suit against Ben Bernanke and other financial regulators in federal district court (E.D.N.Y.), seeking declaratory, injunctive and mandamus relief to compel defendants to issue a joint Final Rulemaking under 12 U.S.C. 1851 or Dodd-Frank 619 (the "Volcker Rule").  Plaintiffs assert that almost three years have passed since the enactment of Dodd-Frank and defendants have yet to finalize regulations implementing the Volcker Rule.  They allege that although some banks have pared down their proprietary trading activities, other banks have not done so, thereby putting at risk money that is held by bank depositors like the plaintiffs.  They assert this violates the mandatory provision that specifies that defendants "shall" adopt rules implementing the provisions of  Dodd-Frank 619 within nine months after completing a study by the FSOC relating to the Volcker Rule, which study was completed in January 2011.  Plaintiffs further assert they have exhausted their administrative remedies, since Occupy the SEC previously issued a 325 page comment letter petitioning the agencies to avoid "any delay in [the Rule's] full and aggressive implementation."  The complaint also alleges that SEC Commissioner Gallagher recently stated publicly that he believed the agencies would be better off prioritizing other matters.  Taylor v. Bernanke, Case 1:13-cv-01013-ARR-JMA Filed 02/26/13

The complaint is available at

http://www.occupythesec.org/files/OSECVolckerComplaint.pdf

 (Thanks to Jennifer Taub for alerting me to this)