By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 13, 2022 ~
Yesterday, just hours before Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Wall Street On Parade learned that Bankman-Fried had been allowed to purchase an SEC-registered retail brokerage firm in August of last year.
The brokerage firm at that time was called RJL Capital Group and was based in Staten Island, New York. Bankman-Fried changed the firm’s name to FTX Capital Markets LLC and moved its headquarters to Broad Street in the financial district in lower Manhattan.
According to Wall Street’s self-regulator, FINRA, FTX Capital Markets was licensed to conduct retail stock trading in 32 states. FINRA further notes that the firm’s SEC registration is “pending withdrawal” as of December 5 and all 32 state licenses are listed as “Termination Requested.” It is not clear if the firm has requested the withdrawal of its licenses and registration or if a regulator has initiated the action. (The SEC filed a broad range of charges this morning against Sam Bankman-Fried but it makes no mention of his ownership of a retail brokerage firm. The U.S. Attorney’s office is expected to unseal its indictment against Bankman-Fried later this morning.)
To finish at original source; https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/12/sam-bankman-fried-quietly-bought-an-sec-registered-stock-trading-operation-there-are-big-questions-as-to-whats-happening-with-customer-accounts/.
