On August 17, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granted the SEC's motion for summary judgment against former associates of RMR Asset Management Company Jocelyn M. Murphy, Michael Sean Murphy, and Richard C. Gounaud. According to the SEC's complaint, filed August 14, 2018, the defendants purchased new issue municipal bonds on behalf of RMR so that the defendants and RMR could quickly resell or "flip" the bonds to broker-dealers at a pre-arranged markup. The complaint further alleged that defendant Jocelyn Murphy fraudulently obtained new issue municipal bonds by posing as a retail investor residing in the issuer's jurisdiction so that her orders would receive the highest priority.

In granting the SEC's motion for summary judgment, the court ruled that the defendants operated as unregistered brokers by regularly engaging in securities transactions on behalf of RMR in exchange for transaction-based compensation, in violation of Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The court also ruled that Jocelyn Murphy committed fraud by submitting false zip codes with her orders to secure the higher priority reserved for local retail investors, in violation of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The court will determine remedies at a later time.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by the Division of Enforcement's Public Finance Abuse Unit, including Joseph Chimienti, Laura Cunningham, Warren Greth, Cori Shepherd, and Jonathan Wilcox. Kevin Guerrero and Ivonia Slade supervised the investigation. Christian Schultz and James Smith are leading the SEC's litigation under the supervision of Frederick Block.