July 2, 2013
District Court Does Not Require Broker Dealer Registration for Foreign Transactions
On March 28, 2013, in SEC v. Benger, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that the registration requirements under Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act do not apply to foreign transactions. As a consequence of this holding, brokers and dealers based in the United States whose activities are limited solely to foreign sales of stock (and whose activities fall under the jurisdiction of the Northern District of Illinois) are not required to be registered with the SEC. There is a possibility that the SEC will appeal this decision in the near future.