what is a wells notice 
a wells notice is a notification issued by regulators to inform individuals or companies of completed investigations where infractions have been discovered it usually takes the form of a letter which notifies recipients both of the broad nature of the violations uncovered as well as the nature of the enforcement proceedings to be initiated against the recipient 1understanding wells noticesthe wells notice is named after the wells committee formed in 1972 by then sec chair william j casey in order to review the enforcement practices and policies of the securities and exchange commission sec and chair by john wells 3the receipt of a wells notice means that the sec may bring a civil action against the person or firm named therein and gives said person or firm the chance to offer information as to why such an action shouldn t be brought 1responding to a wells noticeafter receiving a wells notice recipients have a chance for prospective defendants in sec enforcement proceedings to speak on their own behalves directly to the decision makers involved in the case 4a prospective defendant s response to a wells notice is known as a wells submission prospective defendants have a certain number of days to make a wells submission which should take the form of a legal brief and include both factual and legal arguments to prove why charges should not be brought against the prospective defendants 1a wells submission and its contents are public information and as a result most securities law attorneys may advise that making such a submission is not always to the prospective defendants best interests anything alleged in the wells submission can be used against the defendant in the enforcement proceedings it can also be subpoenaed and used against the respondents in any other civil litigation brought against the defendants 5the pre wells processin some cases regulators are willing to start a dialog with the accused party at the conclusion of their investigation but before issuing a formal wells notice when this occurs it may be referred to as a pre wells process this process will often include written submissions and oral arguments made by the defense counsel the sec may be willing to engage in a pre wells process if a case involves novel or highly technical issues or significant policy questions in other cases the sec is willing to allow a pre wells process because they believe it will facilitate reaching a settlement finally there may be extenuating circumstances in a particular case that cause regulators to be willing to proceed on a pre wells basis 