California-based broker-dealer Wedbush Securities agreed to pay $1.2 million as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the unregistered sale of microcap securities and its failure to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) associated with those transactions.
The agreement, announced Wednesday, includes a civil penalty of $1 million and payment of disgorgement and prejudgment interest of more than $207,000. Wedbush must also retain an independent compliance consultant to review its internal audit and corporate governance policies and procedures, as well as its know your customer and anti-money laundering (AML) controls.
