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Wells Notice
Practical Law Glossary Item 6-523-0333 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Wells Notice
A notice enforcement attorneys of financial industry regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), send to an individual or entity at the conclusion of an investigation informing them:
- That the regulator's enforcement department intends to recommend that the regulator file an enforcement action or proceeding against them.
- Of the potential violations of the laws or the regulator's rules underlying the recommendation.
- That they may submit arguments or evidence to the regulator regarding the recommendation.
The Wells Notice gets its name from John Wells, who chaired the SEC advisory committee that first instituted the practice of issuing these notices. Although providing a Wells notice is discretionary, these regulators will do so in nearly every case, absent exceptional circumstances.
For more information on:
- The SEC's Wells notice, see SEC Enforcement Manual § 2.4, 17 C.F.R. § 202.5(c), and Practice Note, Roadmap of the SEC's Investigation and Enforcement Process: The Wells Process.
- FINRA's Wells notice, see FINRA Regulatory Notice 09-17.
- The CFTC's Wells notice, see 17 C.F.R. Pt. 11, App. A.