Guy Gentile just avoided a $17 million headache.
The Securities and Exchange Commission will not pursue disgorgement and penalties in its civil fraud case against the former rogue FBI informant, according to documents filed Friday in New Jersey federal court.
The decision comes more than a month after the Supreme Court decided on a five-year statute of limitations for disgorgements.
But Gentile isn’t fully off the hook with the feds. The SEC is still seeking to bar the broker from the securities business based on his alleged 2007 pump-and-dump scheme.
Gentile’s lawyer said he is “pleased” that the SEC dropped the disgorgement and penalties — but lashed out at the agency’s insistence at pursuing the injunction.
“Our view is that the SEC is barred from bringing this case as it is solely for the purpose of brandishing the defendant with a scarlet letter,” the lawyer, Adam Ford, told The Post.
Gentile, 41, became an FBI informant in 2012 after the feds accused him of running a pump-and-dump scheme.
His work helped to put away more than a dozen financial scammers.
But Gentile went rogue after realizing that despite assurance from the FBI that it wouldn’t prosecute him, it was gearing up for a legal fight.
A criminal indictment against Gentile was dismissed in January. He has not been found to have committed any wrongdoings.
“I just want to live my life unmolested by the government,” Gentile said. SEC reps declined to comment beyond Friday’s filing.