Guy Gentile Files Opening Brief in Eleventh Circuit Appeal of SEC Broker-Registration Judgment

Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates — August 4, 2026

Counsel for Guy Gentile today filed his opening brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Securities and Exchange Commission v. MintBroker International, Ltd. and Guy Gentile, appellate case No. 25-14361. The appeal follows a jury trial and remedies order in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The filing presents two principal issues. First, it argues that the district court's jury instruction defining the term "solicitation" — the term that determines whether a foreign broker-dealer falls outside the registration exemption in Rule 15a-6 under the Securities Exchange Act — departed from the statute's plain language, from the rule's regulatory history and purpose, and from the ordinary meaning of the word itself. Second, it argues that the approximately $20 million in monetary awards entered against Gentile should be vacated because they were not tied to findings of harm to legally protected interests, and because they treated revenue received by the brokerage and by a trust as personal gain to Gentile.

The brief also challenges the imposition of joint-and-several disgorgement and prejudgment interest, and argues that the civil penalties award exceeded any gross pecuniary gain to Gentile individually.

The underlying case concerned MintBroker International, Ltd., formerly Swiss America Securities Ltd. and doing business as SureTrader, a Bahamas-based brokerage that wound up through a court-supervised liquidation in The Bahamas. The brief states that the firm's business was structured around Rule 15a-6's exemption for foreign broker-dealers that do not solicit United States customers, and that regulators reviewed aspects of the business beginning in 2012 without requiring registration at that time.

"This appeal is about what a rule actually says versus what it was later read to say," Gentile said. "The registration exemption we relied on has a defined boundary. I want an appellate court to say where that boundary is."

Gentile is represented by Matthew A. Ford and Arthur Kutoroff of Ford O'Brien Landy, LLP. The brief includes a request for oral argument under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34. The Securities and Exchange Commission's responsive brief is due under the court's scheduling order. No date for oral argument has been set.

This release summarizes a publicly filed appellate brief. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not characterize the merits of any pending matter, and is not legal or investment advice.