SEC v. Michelle Dipp (2020)

Settled

Checked against the primary document on October 3, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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In June 2020 the SEC settled with Michelle Dipp, co-founder and former CEO of OvaScience, finding she misled investors in 2014 and 2015 about the availability and commercial prospects of its AUGMENT fertility treatment. She agreed to $36,000 disgorgement, $8,360 interest and a $75,000 penalty. The case does not concern a reverse merger.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	3-19843
Date filed	2020-06-30
Date resolved	2020-06-30
Status	settled
Asset class	equities
Venue	Nasdaq
Criminal parallel	No
Defendants	Michelle Dipp (individual)
Cited as charged or alleged	Exchange Act s.13(a) ; Securities Act s.17(a) (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: $75k
Disgorgement: $36k
Prejudgment interest: $8.4k
Total relief: $119k
Alleged gain: —

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission instituted and settled this proceeding on June 30, 2020 (Securities Act release 10794), without admission or denial by Dipp.

The order finds that she made false and misleading statements in filings, press releases and earnings calls, including that AUGMENT was available in the United Kingdom, that clinics abroad were moving to commercial treatments and that the company was on track for 1,000 commercial treatments in 2015, when only a few had been done, demand was low, and UK regulators said it could not be lawfully offered. It finds she violated Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act and caused false company reports.

She was ordered to cease and desist and to pay $36,000 in disgorgement, $8,360 in interest and a $75,000 civil penalty. The record carried a reverse-merger tag that nothing in the order supports, so it now carries none, and it had shown only the interest.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

Timeline

2020-06-30 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

SEC order

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.