SEC, Apex Spar Over Off-Channel Communications Sweep Settlement

A Texas broker-dealer offering digital wealth management services told a US appeals court the firm received harsher settlement terms than other targets of a Biden-era SEC crackdown on companies accused of failing to preserve business-related communications on employees’ personal devices.

The Securities and Exchange Commission denied a bid from Apex Clearing Corp. to alter its settlement over off-channel communications while imposing less burdensome sanctions on other firms for similar conduct, Apex argued Monday before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

But modifying an existing settlement is “not an everyday occasion,” said Judge Leslie H. Southwick, who posed ...