The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Consent Decree panel at the May 3 Corporate Crime Reporter conference will feature the newly appointed SEC Co-Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney.

The conference  —  Neither Admit Nor Deny: Corporate Crime in the Age of Deferred Prosecutions, Consent Decrees, Whistleblowers & Monitors — will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

In addition to Ceresney, the new panel will consist of King & Spalding partner Russell Ryan, Public Citizen President Robert Weissman, and Willkie Farr partner Mei Lin Kwan-Gett.

The panel will be moderated by Crowell & Moring partner Thomas Hanusik.

The panel will discuss the SEC’s practice of settling major  corporate cases with “neither admit nor deny” consent decrees — a practice that has triggered the ire of a number of federal judges.

These judges argue that if the SEC has the evidence to bring a case and secure remedies, it ought to force the companies to admit to wrongdoing. Should the SEC modify its consent decree practice — and if so, how?