What You Need to Know
- Wedbush brokers allegedly made unregistered microcap securities sales and failed to report suspicious transactions.
- Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Wedbush agreed to be pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of over $207,000.
- The firm also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1 million, the SEC said.
Wedbush Securities has agreed to pay more than $1.2 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding allegedly unlawful microcap securities sales by the broker-dealer’s reps, the SEC said on Wednesday.
Almost 100 million shares of the securities in question for more than 50 low-priced microcap companies were involved, the SEC said in an order.
Wedbush also failed to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) pertaining to those transactions, the SEC alleged.
The firm declined to comment on Thursday.
The SEC’s order found that Wedbush violated the registration provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the recordkeeping requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Wedbush agreed to cease and desist from committing or causing these securities violations again, the SEC said.
Wedbush also agreed to be censured, to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of over $207,000, and a civil penalty of $1 million, according to the SEC.
The SEC’s order also directed Wedbush to engage an independent compliance consultant to undertake a broad review of the BD’s supervisory, compliance and other policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violations of the federal securities laws by the firm and its employees.