Sidoti & Company Fined For Compliance and Trading Surveillance Failures

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 13, 2017 announced that Sidoti & Company LLC, a New York-based brokerage firm has agreed to pay a $100,000 penalty to settle charges of compliance and trading surveillance failures.Federal securities laws require firms to enforce policies and procedures to prevent the misuse of material, nonpublic information to which their employees routinely have access.

The SEC’s order finds that Sidoti & Company had no written policies or procedures in place from November 2014 to July 2015 as it pertained to those making investment decisions for an affiliated hedge fund that invested in issuers covered by Sidoti’s research department and some other issuers for which Sidoti provided investment banking services.  For example, Sidoti maintained a “daily restricted list” of securities restricting personal trading because Sidoti was involved in investment banking or marketing activities or the firm was publishing research on the security.  There were 126 instances from Nov. 3, 2014 to May 5, 2015 when the hedge fund traded in a stock that appeared on the daily restricted list.“Sidoti did not devote sufficient resources to set up the requisite trade surveillance and compliance systems and failed to meet its obligation to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information,” said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.

Without admitting or denying the findings, Sidoti consented to the SEC’s order finding that the firm violated Section 15(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

For further information about this securities law blog post, please contact Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney at 101 Plaza Real S, Suite 202 N, Boca Raton, Florida, (561) 416-8956 or by email at [email protected].   This securities law blog post is provided as a general informational service to clients and friends of Hamilton & Associates Law Group and should not be construed as, and does not constitute, legal and compliance advice on any specific matter, nor does this message create an attorney-client relationship. Please note that the prior results discussed herein do not guarantee similar outcomes.

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