Statement on the SEC's 2016 Penny Stock Litigation Release
The official response from Guy Gentile to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's 2016 litigation release — the public record that the SEC's page does not tell you about.
Putnam Valley, New York → Nassau, The Bahamas · June 16, 2026
The SEC's 2016 release is still online. The case that followed it was dismissed. That part is not.
If you searched my name and landed on a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission litigation release describing me as a resident of Putnam Valley, New York charged with penny stock manipulation, you are reading a document from 2016. The page is still on sec.gov. It does not tell you what happened next.
What happened next is a matter of public record. The parallel federal criminal indictment that arose from the same underlying allegations — United States v. Gentile, Crim. No. 16-155, in the District of New Jersey — was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on January 30, 2017 on statute-of-limitations grounds. This was a dismissal, not a jury acquittal. The SEC's own related civil case in the same district was dismissed at the pleading stage, and the Commission walked away. Litigation Release No. 24962, which documented that wind-down, has been removed from sec.gov; only the Wayback Machine still preserves it.
I respect the SEC's enforcement role and the courts that decided these matters. I also believe people who land on a ten-year-old press release through a Google search deserve the rest of the timeline — the dismissal, the walk-away, the years of cooperation with federal authorities that followed, and the fact that I have never been convicted of a crime. The SEC chose to leave the 2016 release indexed. I choose to publish the rest of the record alongside it.
Separately, the SEC filed a civil action in the Southern District of Florida on March 22, 2021. After a ten-day civil trial, a Miami jury found Gentile liable as a control person of SureTrader and for inducing its broker-dealer registration violations on July 2, 2024. Final judgment was entered on October 17, 2025. This civil proceeding is entirely distinct from the dismissed New Jersey criminal case and is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
— Guy Gentile
Five facts that do not appear on the page Google is showing you
- 01
The parallel federal criminal indictment was dismissed in January 2017.
On March 23, 2016, a federal grand jury in the District of New Jersey returned the indictment (Crim. No. 16-155) relating to alleged securities-fraud conduct that had ended in 2008. On January 30, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed that criminal indictment on statute-of-limitations grounds. This was a dismissal, not a jury acquittal.
- 02
The SEC's related civil case was also dismissed and the Commission walked away.
The SEC's companion civil action in the District of New Jersey (Civ. No. 16-1619, before the same court) was dismissed at the pleading stage and the Commission did not continue. The SEC documented its decision to abandon the case in Litigation Release No. 24962 — and then quietly removed that release from sec.gov. Only the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine still preserves it.
- 03
The conduct alleged dates to 2007–2008 — pre-FINRA-examiner-career and over fifteen years old.
The SEC's 2016 release describes events from 2007 and 2008 — a small-cap Mexican gold-mining stock and a Kentucky gas-drilling stock — that predate Guy Gentile's later FINRA-registered brokerage businesses and his cooperation work with federal authorities. The page reads in the present tense; the underlying facts are nearly two decades old.
- 04
There was no conviction, no fraud finding against investors, and no industry bar.
Across the 2016 SEC release, the 2016 DOJ indictment, and the 2016 SEC civil case in New Jersey, there was no criminal conviction, no jury finding of fraud against investors, no finding of customer loss, and no order barring Guy Gentile from the securities industry. His FINRA BrokerCheck record (CRD #3173560) reflects that history.
- 05
Guy Gentile went on to cooperate with federal authorities.
What the SEC's residual 2016 page does not disclose is that, in the years that followed, Guy Gentile cooperated extensively with federal law enforcement on unrelated market-integrity investigations. That cooperation is summarized on the public cooperation page of this site.
2007 → 2016 → 2017 → today
- 2007–2008
The trades later described in the SEC's 2016 litigation release take place — a small-cap Mexican gold-mining stock and a Kentucky gas-drilling stock.
- July 2012
FBI arrests Guy Gentile in New Jersey. Guy Gentile cooperates with federal authorities.
- 2016
SEC issues Litigation Release No. 23488 describing the same underlying conduct; the page still surfaces near the top of Google search results for the bare query 'Guy Gentile.'
- March 23, 2016
A federal grand jury returns an indictment in the District of New Jersey relating to alleged securities-fraud conduct that had ended in 2008 (Crim. No. 16-155). The SEC files a parallel civil action (Civ. No. 16-1619).
- January 30, 2017
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismisses the criminal indictment on statute-of-limitations grounds. This was a dismissal, not a jury acquittal.
- After 2017
The SEC's parallel D.N.J. civil case is dismissed at the pleading stage and the Commission walks away. The SEC documents the wind-down in Litigation Release No. 24962, then later removes that release from sec.gov.
- March 22, 2021
Separately, the SEC files a civil action in the Southern District of Florida concerning SureTrader / MintBroker International.
- July 2, 2024
After a ten-day civil trial, a Miami jury finds Gentile liable as a control person of SureTrader and for inducing its broker-dealer registration violations.
- October 17, 2025
Final judgment is entered in the Miami civil case. The judgment is on appeal in the Eleventh Circuit.
- Today
The 2016 SEC litigation release remains live on sec.gov, with no update reflecting any of the above. This statement is the public record's full context.
Related record
Primary sources
- ·SEC — Litigation Release No. 23488 (2016 release on Guy Gentile)
- ·DOJ — Indictment, United States v. Gentile, Crim. No. 16-155 (D.N.J.)
- ·Wayback Machine — SEC Litigation Release No. 24962 (preserved)
- ·FINRA BrokerCheck — Guy Gentile (CRD #3173560)
- ·CourtListener — SEC v. Gentile (D.N.J., Civ. No. 16-1619) docket and opinion
This page is published for informational and commentary purposes and is not legal advice. References to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's published materials are made for purposes of comment, criticism, and reporting.