Bahamas Broker Gentile to Appeal SEC Non-Registration Verdict

SureTrader principal Guy Gentile will appeal a jury verdict rendered Tuesday for the SEC on claims that he violated US securities law by failing to register his Bahamas-based broker-dealer firm with the regulator, his attorney said.

Gentile relied on a registration exemption for foreign brokers who don’t solicit US customers, but the judge’s view of “solicitation” in her summary judgment ruling changed in the jury instructions, defense attorney Matthew Aaron Ford said Wednesday. “We were very shocked with the jury charge,” said Ford.

The Ford O’Brien Landy LLP partner said, “I feel this verdict is a sham.”

Judge Beth Bloom ...