After leaving the city, Fisher and Housser spent two days in Madrid, “where they recuperated from their undoubtedly strenuous depositions” at the Hotel Orfila at a cost of $1,500, according to the judge.
Pauley said the SEC isn’t responsible for any of the Madrid costs and must only reimburse the two executives’ London expenses at the per-diem rate it allows for its own lawyers. He ordered the SEC to determine “reasonable commercial prices” for their air travel.
Earlier in the case, Pauley was sharply critical of the SEC for triggering the collapse of Cayman Islands-based Caledonian Bank Ltd., a co-defendant of Verdmont in the suit, by imposing an asset freeze of more than three times its capital. Pauley said in November that the case gives the SEC “fertile ground for agency self-examination.”
The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Caledonian Bank Ltd., 15-cv-00894, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).