High Court Rejects SEC Financial Crime Reports Authority Case

Alpine Securities Corp. lost its bid for a chance to argue the SEC lacks authority to enforce the Bank Secrecy Act after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its petition for review Monday.

The Utah-based broker-dealer faced a $12 million fine following a Securities and Exchange Commission action accusing it of violating federal securities laws by failing to comply with the BSA’s suspicious activity report requirements. Alpine told the high court that the agency doesn’t have authority to enforce compliance with the banking law.

The SEC has “independent authority” to make sure broker-dealers “comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements,” including SARs, ...