The U.S. Supreme Court denied broker/dealer Alpine Securities’ attempt to immediately stop FINRA’s pursuit to expel it from the industry.
Last month, Alpine asked the Court to consider hearing its case against the regulator, arguing that a lower-court ruling did not go far enough.
But Chief Justice John Roberts opted to deny Alpine’s request for an immediate pause on that decision (and FINRA’s enforcement), according to the Supreme Court’s website.
The ruling, by a three-judge panel at the D.C. Appeals Court, partially agreed with Alpine, ruling that FINRA must let the SEC review its decisions to expel registrants. However, the court allowed FINRA’s enforcement proceedings against the firm to continue (with one judge dissenting and arguing that the Court should dismiss FINRA’s enforcement against Alpine altogether).
FINRA first charged Alpine with misconduct in 2019, and three years later, a hearing panel expelled the firm from the industry and ordered it to pay $2.3 million in restitution. FINRA later moved to expedite the expulsion, claiming Alpine was defying a cease-and-desist order.
Alpine moved to challenge FINRA’s constitutionality altogether, arguing its hearing officers and arbitration panels were essentially judges and trials overseeing U.S. securities law but operating without the oversight of the government’s executive branch. (Alpine’s arguments mirror claims made in several other cases throughout the country.)
In its petition to the Supreme Court, Alpine argued that its case was legally significant and that the firm would face immediate harm if FINRA’s enforcement was allowed to proceed. Alpine’s suit called into question FINRA’s enforcement arm, with the broker arguing that the self-regulatory organization had powers that violated the Constitution.
After Alpine submitted its motion to the Supreme Court, attorneys for the U.S. government wrote that Alpine’s arguments didn’t meet the level needed to grant a stay and that both the government and the public would be harmed if the Supreme Court opted to halt proceedings.
“There is a strong congressional and public interest in ensuring that securities markets remain trustworthy and sound, including by ensuring that those markets remain free of those who repeatedly violate not just the federal securities laws, but also longstanding industry rules that protect customers and investors,” the response read.
Benjamin Edwards, a professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted that Roberts denied an immediate stay of the lower court ruling, but that didn’t mean Alpine’s cert petition (in other words, asking the Supreme Court to hear the case) will ultimately be denied.
“Of course, it will probably be denied because almost all cert petitions are denied,” he said (according to Pew research, the Supreme Court only hears about 80 cases a year out of 7,000 to 8,000 petitions).
FINRA declined a request to comment. Attorneys for Alpine Securities did not respond prior to publication.
Take a look at our comprehensive guide to the best and most popular information ebooks and products available today on Detoxing, Colon Cleansing, Weight Loss and Dating and Romance. They are all in one spot, easy to find and compere to make a quick selection for the product that best fits your needs or wants.
So browse through a category and make your preferred selection and come back here to read more choice articles and get a few more helpful tips on ways to help your enhancement.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. “saubiosaubiosuccess.com is a participant in third party affiliate and advertising programs; The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Awin network, and other affiliate advertising programs are designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees and commissions by advertising and linking to products on other sites and on Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.”
We use anonymous cookies and various 3rd-party services to optimise and to offer you a better, more personalised, browsing experience with advanced accessibility enhancements.
Dismiss
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
