Keith Springer tells Radio Ink the SEC has issued a death sentence for simple technical disclosures and procedural requirements that his firm corrected long ago or is working hard to correct. Springer says he’s retained a top securities law firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, to represent SFA in its fight against the SEC.
“The SEC wants to put us out of business for issues that were fixed long ago and it’s horribly unfair. I take my fiduciary responsibility very seriously. And after years of reviewing our practices, the SEC found no misappropriation of client funds, no lies about our investments, no client complaints, no falsehoods about our performance. Nothing! Rather, they said we failed to make adequate disclosures about potential conflicts of interest and failed to fully comply with certain process and record-keeping regulations – all conduct we have corrected or are in the process of correcting.’’
Springer added that he was just an easy target for the SEC. “They know I don’t have the resources to fight them properly. Now I know how David felt as the giant Goliath was charging at him.’’
In a recent letter to the SEC, SFA’s attorneys noted that in deciding to pursue charges, the agency “failed to take into consideration SFA and Springer’s efforts to improve compliance, their exemplary record of client service, absence of credible customer complaints, and the absence of serious misconduct in the record of this investigation.’’
“At worst,’’ the attorneys wrote, “Mr. Springer may have overlooked whether certain potential conflicts of interest were adequately disclosed…but there are no indications that Mr. Springer deliberately lied to or hid any data from his clients…Mr. Springer attempted to disclose any potential conflicts of interest and there is no evidence to suggest that he was attempting to deceive, manipulate, or defraud his clients.’’
