Disgorgement

This article is about the legal term. For other uses, see Disgorge (disambiguation).

Disgorgement is the act of giving up something on demand or by legal compulsion, for example giving up profits that were obtained illegally.[1]

In United States regulatory law, disgorgement is often a civil remedy imposed by some regulatory agencies to seize illegally obtained profits. When a private party sues for net profits, this is instead ordinarily known as restitution for unjust enrichment.

Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court has noted in Liu v. SEC (2020) that disgorgement is simply another term for restitution, and is subject to equitable limitations. Most notably, equity does not "penalize," so agencies cannot disgorge more than the net profits that resulted from the wrongdoing.[2]

  1. ^ Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014: Bryan A. Garner, ed.) p. 568.
  2. ^ Liu v. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n, No. 18-1501, 591 U.S. ___ (2020).