U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 25831 / September 18, 2023
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rondini, et al., No. 9:23-cv-81285 (S.D. Fla., filed Sept. 18, 2023)
SEC Charges Florida Resident and Resident's Two Companies for Operating as Unregistered Broker-Dealers
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Florida resident Wilson J. Rondini, III and two companies Rondini controls, Falcon Capital LLP and Falcon Capital Partners Limited, alleging that all three operated as broker-dealers who were required to register as such with the Commission but failed to do so.
According to the SEC's complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Rondini, Falcon Capital LLP, and Falcon Capital Partners Limited acted as brokers and dealers, engaged in the business of both effecting transactions in securities for the accounts of others and buying and selling securities for their own accounts. The SEC alleges that, from at least 2018 through the end of 2022, Rondini and his two companies raised tens of millions of dollars on behalf of over a dozen companies that were issuers of securities by selling those companies' securities to investors. The defendants also allegedly bought and sold millions of dollars' worth of securities for their own accounts. However, at no time during the relevant period were Rondini, Falcon Capital LLP, or Falcon Capital Partners Limited registered as broker-dealers with the Commission or associated with a broker-dealer registered with the Commission, as required by the securities laws under these circumstances.
The SEC's complaint, which charges the defendants with violating Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and penny stock bars.
The SEC's case is being handled by Jonathan Menitove, Jeffrey Cook, Alexandra Lavin, Ryan Murphy, Richard Harper, and Celia Moore of the SEC's Boston Regional Office, with assistance from Alex Lefferts of the Division of Enforcement's Office of Investigative & Market Analytics.