I wrote last month that "SEC enforcement actions are civil matters, meaning no matter how badly a defendant may lose the case he or she isn’t going to prison." The one notable exception to this, I noted, is people who manage to get themselves charged criminally by perjuring themselves in sworn testimony or, similarly, by obstructing justice by making false statements to the SEC during its investigation.

A development this week in the SEC's case against Daryn Fleming, however, reminds me that there is at least one other way to turn an SEC case into a potential arrest. On April 14, 2009, U.S. District Judge Robert H. Whaley (D. Wash.) entered a judgment against Fleming (to which Fleming consented) ordering him to pay disgorgement totaling $20,844 in ill-gotten gains, $3,865 in prejudgment interest, and a $35,000 civil penalty.

The Spokesman-Review reports that Fleming made an initial $25,000 payment, but failed to make any of the three subsequent $11,570 installments. Stockwatch reports that on January 25, 2010, the court found Fleming in contempt of court, and required that he pay the outstanding balance of over $34,000 immediately.

Nearly 10 months later, the SEC claims that Fleming has still not complied with the order, and the agency has now asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Fleming and to have him put in jail until he pays up. The court is expected to rule on the SEC's request for an arrest warrant on December 6, 2010.

So add "contempt of court" to the small list of ways to turn an SEC civil action into something much worse.