Salt Lake City Brokerage Firm Alpine Securities Reportedly Fails to Comply with Anti-Money Laundering Laws

According to a recent press announcement, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Alpine Securities Corporation in Salt Lake City with securities law violations related to its alleged practice of clearing transactions for microcap stocks that were used in manipulative schemes to harm investors.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Alpine Securities Corporation routinely and systematically failed to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for stock transactions that it flagged as suspicious.

Suspicious Activity Report

A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) is a document that financial institutions must file with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network following a suspected incident of money laundering or fraud. These reports are required under the United States Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970.

To help detect potential securities law and money laundering violations, broker-dealers are required to file SARs that describe suspicious transactions that take place through their firms.

When it did file SARs, Alpine Securities allegedly frequently omitted the very information that formed the bases for Alpine knowing, suspecting, or having reason to suspect that a transaction was suspicious.  As noted in the complaint, guidance for preparing SARs from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network clearly states that “explaining why the transaction is suspicious is critical.”

The foregoing information, which is all publicly available, is being provided by The White Law Group.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Franklin, Tennessee. The firm represents investors throughout the country in claims against their brokerage firm.

For a free consultation with one of the firm’s securities attorneys, please call (888) 637-5510. For more information on The White Law Group, visit www.WhiteSecuritiesLaw.com.