United States Securities & Exchange Commission v. Benger

934 F. Supp. 2d 1008, 2013 WL 1277872, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44302
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided March 28, 2013·No. No. 09 C 676·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JEFFREY COLE, United States Magistrate Judge.

In an earlier Opinion, the motion of certain defendants for partial summary judgment was granted. U.S. S.E.C. v. Benger, 2013 WL 593952 (N.D.Ill.2013). This opinion will deal with Count V, which charges certain defendants with having acted as brokers or dealers in connection with the foreign sales of IBI stock, Benger, supra, without having been registered with the SEC pursuant to Section 15(a)(1) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. 15 U.S.C. § 780(a)(1).1 It is the defendants’ contention that since their activities did not involve domestic sales of stock, they were not required to register under Section 15(a) of the Act. The argument is based on Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247, 130 S.Ct. 2869, 177 L.Ed.2d 535 (2010), which held that § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 were not intended to have extraterritorial effect to provide a cause of action in federal courts for fraudulent conduct in connection with the sale of foreign securities on foreign exchanges, even if part of the fraudulent activities occurred in the United States.2

The holding was based on the “ ‘longstanding principle of American law’ ” that, “unless a contrary intent appears, legislation of Congress is meant to apply only within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”:

This principle ... rests on the perception that Congress ordinarily legislates with respect to domestic, not foreign matters. Thus, ‘unless there is the affirmative intention of the Congress [1011] clearly expressed’ to give a statute extraterritorial effect, ‘we must presume it is primarily concerned with domestic conditions.’ The canon or presumption applies regardless of whether there is a risk of conflict between the American statute and a foreign law. Since Section 10(b) contained no clear indication of an extraterritorial application, it has none.3

130 S.Ct. at 2878 (citations omitted).

The Court held that the Exchange Act gave no indication that Congress intended it to have extraterritorial effect. Whether a transaction was subject to Section 10(b) depended on whether it was a domestic or foreign transaction since domestic securities transactions were the focus of Congress’ regulatory objectives.4 Here is how the Court put it:

... the focus of the Exchange Act is not upon the place where the deception originated, but upon purchases and sales of securities in the United States. Section 10(b) does not punish deceptive conduct, but only deceptive conduct “in connection with the purchase or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange or any security not so registered.” 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b). Those purchase-and-sale transactions are the objects of the statute’s solicitude. It is those transactions that the statute seeks to “regulate”; it is parties' or prospective parties to those transactions that the statute seeks to “protec[t].” And it is ... only transactions in securities listed on domestic exchanges, and domestic transactions in other securities, to which § 10(b) applies.

Morrison, 130 S.Ct. at 2884 (citations omitted).

In the defendants’ view, there is no evident intent by Congress in Section 15(a) to override the presumption of non-extraterritoriality of statutes. Since, the defendants argue, the regulatory purpose of Section 15(a) is “virtually the same” as that of Section 10(b), registration is only required where a broker or dealer is engaged in or induces others to engage in a domestic transaction. Not surprisingly, the SEC has a very different view. It contends that unlike Section 10b, Section 15 focuses on the “registration and regulation of brokers” and thus does not implicate Morrison and the principle of non-extraterritorial reach of statutes absent a clear intent by Congress. (SEC Brief at 14).

For the SEC, it is inconsequential that a securities transaction is classified as foreign under Morrison. In its view, anyone who facilitates any stock transaction through conduct in the United States must register with the SEC under Section 15(a) even if, as occurred in this case, the transaction is not domestic and does not occur on a national securities exchange. To support its oceanic reading of Section 15(a), the SEC argues that statutory titles have value in “divin[ing]” the meaning and purpose of a statute, and twice quotes the title of Section 15: “Registration and Regulation of Brokers and Dealers.” (SEC Brief at 12-13)(Boldfaee in original). While that is a correct rendition of Section 15’s title, it is significant that the SEC’s brief ignores Section 15(a), the specific provision involved in this case. Section [1012]*101215(a) is captioned: “Registration of all persons utilizing exchange facilities to effect transactions; exemptions.” 15 U.S.C. § 78o(a)(l)(Boldface in original).

The Congress’ focus on national exchanges in Section 15(a) is apparent from the text of the section, which provides:

It shall be unlawful for any broker or dealer ... (other than such a broker or dealer whose business is exclusively intrastate and who does not make use of any facility of a national securities exchange ) to make use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce to effect any transactions in, or to induce or attempt to induce the purchase or sale of, any security other than an exempted security or commercial paper, bankers’ acceptances, or commercial bills unless such broker or dealer is registered in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.(parenthesis in original)(emphasis supplied).

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United States Securities & Exchange Commission v. Benger, 934 F. Supp. 2d 1008, 2013 WL 1277872, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44302 (N.D. Ill. 2013).

934 F. Supp. 2d 1008 (United States Securities & Exchange Commission v. Benger) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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