1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE Case No.: 3:20-cv-00182-BEN-LL COMMISSION, 10 ORDER GRANTING UNOPPOSED Plaintiff, 11 MOTION TO INTERVENE AND v. STAY PROCEEDINGS 12

ALEX C. PROCOPIO, 13 [Doc. 23]; MARK S. ZOUVAS, 14 and CHRISTIAN R. HANSEN, 15 Defendants. 16

17 The United States of America, by and through its counsel, Robert S. Brewer, Jr., 18 United States Attorney, and Aaron P. Arnzen, Assistant United States Attorney, moves to 19 intervene as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) and in the alternative, 20 for permissive intervention under Rule 24(b). (Doc. 23.) The United States also requests 21 a stay of these civil proceedings pending resolution of the parallel criminal case docketed 22 at United States v. Zouvas, 20-cr-0368-AJB. Neither Plaintiff Securities and Exchange 23 Commission (SEC) nor Defendant Mark S. Zouvas oppose the motion. (Docs. 24, 25.) 24 The remaining Defendants have already been terminated from this civil action. The motion 25 is GRANTED. 26

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28 1 Plaintiff's claim arises out of an investigation by the SEC and Federal Bureau of 2 ||Investigation into an alleged fraudulent stock offering. Defendant Zouvas has been 3 indicted by a Grand Jury in this District, and that criminal case is still pending. The factual 4 || basis for the criminal indictment substantially relates to the conduct involved in the present 5 ||civil action. Therefore, the United States of America is granted leave to intervene. 6 A court may decide to stay the civil case when required by the interests of justice. 7 || Federal Sav. & Loan Ins. Corp. v. Molinaro,

(9th Cir. 1989); Keating 8 || v. Office of Thrift Supervision,

(9th Cir. 1995) (citing Dresser Indus., 628 9 || F.2d at 1375 and United States v. Kordel,

, 12 n.27 (1970)). Discovery disputes, 10 which hinge on issues involved in the criminal proceeding, have the potential to 11 |;}unnecessarily expend judicial resources, delay proceedings, and prejudice parties. The 12 ||interests of the public are best served through resolving the criminal case expediently, 13 || which here requires a stay of the civil proceedings. See e.g., Kordel,

. 14 CONCLUSION 15 For the foregoing reasons, the United States’ Motion to Intervene and Stay 16 ||Proceedings is GRANTED. The stay shall remain in effect until disposition of the 17 criminal case United States v. Zouvas, 20-cr-0368-AJB or further order of this Court. 18 IT IS SO ORDERED. . 19 20 Date: June 16, 2020 HON. ROGER T. BENITE 21 United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27 28