Tag Archives: John J. Sikora Jr.

Second Circuit Affirms SEC’s Bank Secrecy Act Powers

by William R. Baker III, Douglas N. Greenburg, Benjamin A. Naftalis, Nabil Sabki, John J. Sikora Jr., Eric S. Volkman, Douglas K. Yatter, Timothy H. McCarten, and Hye Eun (Michelle) Cho

The Second Circuit’s recent decision gives the SEC the green light to continue enforcing broker-dealer compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act.

Key Points:

  • In U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Alpine Securities Corp., the Second Circuit affirmed the SEC’s authority to require broker-dealers to comply with the BSA’s reporting and recordkeeping requirements, under Section 17(a) and Rule 17a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act).
  • The Alpine decision validates the SEC’s focus on broker-dealer AML programs. In anticipation of such scrutiny, broker-dealers and Chief Compliance Officers should evaluate whether their compliance programs satisfy existing anti-money laundering obligations, and particularly BSA reporting obligations.

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SEC Charges “ICO Superstore” as Unregistered Broker-Dealer

by John J. Sikora, Jr., Stephen Wink, Douglas K. Yatter, and Naim Culhaci

The settled order is the first SEC action charging a seller of digital tokens as an unregistered broker-dealer.

On September 11, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settled order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings and imposing remedial sanctions against TokenLot LLC (TokenLot), a self-described “ICO Superstore,” and its owners in connection with their sales of digital tokens to the general public through a website.[1] The SEC found that TokenLot and its owners acted as unregistered broker-dealers in violation of Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and engaged in unregistered securities offerings in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act). Continue reading →