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SEC Action Suggests Broker-Dealers Face Penalties for Historic SAR Failures

By Brian Monroe

A Securities and Exchange Commission action against a Florida brokerage for not filing suspicious activity reports sends a message to securities dealers that they could be punished for historic anti-money laundering (AML) program failures, experts say. In a precedent-setting order instituting cease and desist proceedings that was issued Wednesday by the SEC, Winter Park, Florida-based Park Financial Group Inc. was cited for failing to report numerous suspicious activities related to a so called pump and dump scheme to boost the stock price of Nevada toolmaker Spear & Jackson Inc. Last February, the SEC penalized Spear & Jackson former chief executive...

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