Gabelli v. SEC, 568 U.S. 442 (2013), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the statute of limitations for filing civil penalty actions initiates when the offending act is committed or finished.

Gabelli and Alpert sought dismissal of the case, arguing the SEC lawsuit came after the five year statute of limitations expired.

In response, the SEC argued that under the discovery rule, the statute had not expired when the case was filed.

[1] In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice John Roberts ruled against the federal government's argument that the discovery rule determined the statute of limitations for filing the fraud lawsuit.

Under this earlier threshold, the SEC missed the five-year deadline to file suit against Gabelli.