BREAKING NEWS: FINRA Wins Round One of Scottsdale 144 Case

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") and Scottsdale Capital Advisors Corporation have been engaged in what seems like a battle to the death for the past few years -- which is not to make light of the self-regulator's serious allegations or of the tenacious defense by Scottsdale and other named respondents. The Respondents embarked upon a multi-year effort to stay, derail, and otherwise block FINRA's regulatory case. See these articles:

The Respondent firm violated FINRA Rule 2010 by selling securities without registration and without an exemption, in contravention of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933. The firm's owner, Respondent John Hurry, also violated Rule 2010, because he engaged in activities designed to enable the unlawful transactions and evade regulatory scrutiny.

The Respondent firm and its Chief Compliance Officer, Respondent Timothy DiBlasi, violated NASD Rules 3010(a) and (b) and FINRA Rule 2010 by failing to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures, reasonably designed to ensure that the firm complied with Section 5 of the Securities Act.

The Respondent firm and its President, Respondent Michael Cruz, violated NASD Rule 3010(b) and FINRA Rule 2010 by failing to supervise and failing to respond appropriately to numerous red flags indicative of unlawful unregistered distributions.

The Respondent firm is fined $1.5 million. Hurry is barred in all capacities. He would also be fined $100,000, but, in light of the bar, the fine is not imposed. DiBlasi is suspended for two years and fined $50,000. Cruz is suspended for two years and fined $50,000. In addition, Respondents are ordered to pay costs, for which they are jointly and severally liable.

A. The Respondent Firm

The Respondent firm, Scottsdale Capital Advisors Corporation ("Scottsdale" or the "Firm"), is primarily engaged in the business of liquidating penny stocks for its customers without registration. The sale of securities without registration is unlawful unless an exemption exists. In selling securities without registration, Scottsdale usually relies on a "safe harbor" exemption created by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Rule 144. But the securities at issue here did not qualify for the Rule 144 exemption. Thus, the sales were unlawful.

1. The Firm Relied On The Rule 144 Exemption

SEC Rule 144 is highly detailed and technical. It both restricts some transactions and permits others that meet certain conditions. It comes into play where securities have been acquired from the issuer or an affiliate in an unregistered private transaction. Such securities typically are marked with a restrictive legend, and the holder may not sell such securities in the public marketplace unless an exemption applies to the sale.

In determining whether a sale of securities is exempt from registration under Rule 144, a broker-dealer must conduct an inquiry that focuses primarily on identifying the individual who is the beneficial owner of the securities to be sold, analyzing that person's relationship (if any) to the issuer of the securities, investigating the circumstances of that person's acquisition of the securities, and calculating how long the person has held the securities. Rule 144 imposes different holding periods on affiliates and non-affiliates of an issuer before they can resell the issuer's securities. In some circumstances, the holder can "tack" his holding period to that of his predecessor in the chain of holders to meet the applicable holding period.

The purpose of the Rule 144 inquiry is to ensure that the transaction is not a subterfuge for an issuer or its affiliates to distribute securities to the public while evading the disclosure requirements that accompany registration. Representations made by the parties interested in selling the securities must be carefully scrutinized by a broker-dealer film because of the incentive to misrepresent the circumstances and conceal the true beneficial owners.

2. The Firm Lacked A Basis For "Tacking" To Achieve The Required Holding Period Under SEC Rule 144

In the transactions at issue, the purported beneficial owners claimed that neither they nor their predecessors were affiliates of the issuer. Their lack of affiliate status was critical to their ability to sell the shares pursuant to SEC Rule 144 because of the shorter holding period and fewer restrictions on non-affiliates.

Even as non-affiliates, however, none of the purported beneficial owners of the shares that Scottsdale accepted for resale had held the shares long enough to qualify for the Rule 144 safe harbor holding period. Each seller therefore claimed that the applicable Rule 144 holding period was satisfied by tacking his holding period to the holding period of a prior holder.

In the transactions at issue, one prior holder claimed that he had forgiven a loan that he had made to the issuer and had exchanged the right to payment on the loan for stock. One of the prior holders forgave a promissory note that the issuer had used to pay him for consulting services. Another prior holder claimed to have extended an oral line of credit to the issuer and then to have accepted shares in satisfaction of a sum owed on the line of credit. A third prior holder forgave a portion of a promissory note extending an open-ended line of credit.

Each of these prior holders received the shares around the same time that he transferred them. Thus, the prior holder did not actually hold the shares long enough for his successor to satisfy the applicable holding period by tacking, creating an impediment to resale.

To overcome that impediment, the sellers of the securities claimed the benefit of another tacking provision under Rule 144. Rule 144 provides that where a holder of a security exchanges that security for another of the same issuer's securities, without any additional compensation, the holder may tack the holding period of the first security to the holding period of the second. The theory is that the exchange of one security for another of the same issuer does not change the nature of the holder's capital at risk, so the holding period for the new security can tack back to the date the old security was acquired. The sellers here characterized their prior holders' exchanges of notes for stock as exchanges of one security for another. On that basis, the sellers claimed that they could tack back to the inception of the prior holders' loans.

Whether the first instrument in the chain was a security is thus a threshold issue. The Firm treated the prior holders' promissory notes and lines of credit as securities and the conversion of that debt into stock as the exchange of one security of the issuer for another security of the same issuer. As a result, the Firm concluded that the sellers were permitted to tack their holding period all the way back to the inception of the prior holders' loans.

The Firm erred. The promissory notes and lines of credit were not securities. Rather, they were ordinary debt liabilities. Accordingly, the purported beneficial owners could not establish the requisite holding period, and the Rule 144 exemption did not exist.

3. The Firm Also Failed To Address Red Flags Signaling Unlawful Distributions

The transactions at issue involved persons seeking to sell large blocks of thinly traded, little-known securities acquired in a chain of private transactions originating with the issuer generally a red flag that the SEC and FINRA have both said requires a "searching inquiry." The sellers acquired the shares from the prior holders and sought to resell the shares almost immediately. The immediate resale of a large block of stock that has never been the subject of registration disclosures strongly suggests an attempt to distribute securities to the public without registration. In addition, there were a large number of discrepancies and suspicious circumstances indicating that sham transactions, false documents, and nominees were being used to evade the securities laws and effect unlawful securities sales without registration. These red flags ought to have been investigated and appropriately resolved before the securities could be sold.

Firm, however, blinded itself to the multiple red flags signaling that the transactions were unlawful public distributions of securities. It did not conduct the required searching inquiry. It sold the securities without a reasonable basis for a Rule 144 exemption. Because of the suspicious circumstances known to the Firm, it also was not entitled to the so-called "broker's exemption" under Section 4(4) of the Securities Act for ordinary trading.

• 144
• Scottsdale
• Hurry
• FINRA
• OHO
• Unregistered Securities
• Promissory Notes
• Lines of Credit
• Rule 144
• Safe Harbor
• Affilates
• Issuer
• BrokeAndBroker
• Bill Singer