Statement on the Jury's Verdict in SEC v. Guy Gentile
The official response from Guy Gentile, founder of MintBroker International, Ltd. (f/k/a Swiss America Securities Ltd., d/b/a SureTrader), to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's July 2, 2024 press statement.
Nassau, The Bahamas · July 2, 2024 · Updated June 15, 2026
A jury rendered its verdict. The case continues on appeal — and the public record deserves the full story.
Earlier today, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida returned its verdict in SEC v. Gentile. I want to address that verdict directly, and to correct the impression left by the Commission's own press statement.
I respect the jury and the time they gave to this case. I disagree — strongly — with the outcome, and I am pursuing an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The SEC's statement frames the verdict as a vindication of investor protection. The actual record is narrower than that. The jury was asked to decide whether SureTrader, a Bahamas-licensed and Bahamas-regulated broker-dealer, also required U.S. registration, and whether I — as its control person — induced that registration failure. The jury was not asked to find fraud, and it did not. The jury was not asked to find investor losses, and it did not.
The Commission knows the difference between a registration dispute and a fraud case. So do the courts. So should the public. SureTrader served self-directed traders for nearly a decade under Bahamian supervision; every account was funded and traded by the customer; the firm was wound down through a court-supervised Bahamian liquidation. The parallel 2016 federal indictment against me was dismissed in 2017 by Chief Judge Jose L. Linares, and the Government did not appeal that ruling.
This case is not over. The monetary judgment that follows from today's verdict is on appeal, and the appeal raises serious questions about whether control-person status — without personal receipt — can support disgorgement of corporate revenue under Liu v. SEC and the Supreme Court's analysis in Sripetch. I will continue to defend my record, in court and in public, until the full story is heard.
There is one thing I have never said publicly until now. My lawyer and I did not stay in that courtroom for the verdict. After closing arguments we walked out of the federal courthouse in Miami and went home. Not out of disrespect for the jury — but because we already knew. Whatever number came back on that form, the record we had built over ten days of trial was an appellate record. The burden shift on Rule 15a-6. The § 20(b) theory the government stretched past its text. The witness who kept walking into the excluded 2016 indictment. The refusal to deduct $22 million in legitimate SureTrader expenses. Every one of those was preserved. Whichever way the jury came down, the case was going up to the Eleventh Circuit. That is why we left. We had already won the fight that actually matters.
— Guy Gentile
Five facts that did not appear in the Commission's press release
- 01
This was a registration case, not a fraud case.
The jury was asked to decide one narrow question: whether SureTrader, a Bahamas-licensed broker-dealer, should also have been registered in the United States, and whether Guy Gentile, as its control person, induced that registration failure. The jury was not asked to find — and did not find — fraud, market manipulation, churning, theft, or any misappropriation of customer funds.
- 02
There was no finding of investor loss or customer harm.
The SEC's statement invokes "investor protections," but the trial record contains no individualized finding that any SureTrader customer lost money because of the registration question. Every SureTrader account was funded by the customer, traded by the customer, and remained in the customer's name at a Bahamas-regulated firm.
- 03
SureTrader was a fully licensed Bahamas broker-dealer.
MintBroker International (d/b/a SureTrader) was licensed and supervised by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas for its entire operating life. It was wound down through a court-supervised Bahamian liquidation. The dispute the SEC tried in Miami concerned whether the same firm also required a parallel U.S. registration — a contested legal question, not an allegation of dishonesty.
- 04
The parallel federal criminal case was dismissed in 2017.
The 2016 District of New Jersey indictment that gave rise to most of the press coverage about Guy Gentile was dismissed by Chief Judge Jose L. Linares. The Government did not appeal. Guy Gentile has never been convicted of a crime.
- 05
The disgorgement judgment is on appeal.
The $19,155,586.14 Rule 54(b) final judgment (ECF 393, Oct. 17, 2025) is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The opening brief raises five issues: (1) the district court reversibly shifted the Rule 15a-6 foreign-broker-exemption burden of persuasion to Gentile in conflict with its own Omnibus Order; (2) § 20(b) of the Exchange Act cannot supply a freestanding cause of action in a non-fraud, registration-only case; (3) the disgorgement award violates Liu v. SEC by imposing $13.1M in joint-and-several liability without concerted-wrongdoing findings and by categorically refusing to deduct more than $22M in documented legitimate SureTrader business expenses; (4) after SEC v. Jarkesy and the Sripetch concurrence, the Seventh Amendment required a jury — not the bench — to decide § 78u(d)(7) disgorgement; and (5) the district court abused its discretion by denying a mistrial after SEC witness Philip Dorsett repeatedly violated the Omnibus Order barring reference to Gentile's 2016 indictment and FBI cooperation.
The eight-year record
- 2011
MintBroker International, Ltd. (d/b/a SureTrader) is licensed by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas.
- July 2012
FBI arrests Guy Gentile in New Jersey. Guy Gentile cooperates with federal authorities.
- March 2016
DOJ indicts Gentile on the same withdrawn charges from 2012.
- January 2017
Chief Judge Jose L. Linares dismisses the federal indictment. The Government does not appeal.
- 2019
SureTrader is wound down through a court-supervised Bahamian liquidation.
- March 2021
The SEC files its civil complaint in the Southern District of Florida (Case No. 1:21-cv-21079).
- June 17–28, 2024
Ten-day jury trial before Hon. Beth Bloom. After closing arguments, Guy Gentile and trial counsel Adam Ford left the courthouse before the verdict — the record they had built for appeal was already complete.
- June 28, 2024
The Miami jury returns a verdict on the narrow registration and inducement counts. No fraud finding. No investor-harm finding.
- October 17, 2025
The district court enters a Rule 54(b) final judgment against Gentile totaling $19,155,586.14 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties (ECF 393).
- 2025–2026
Appeal pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Primary sources
- ·SEC — Statement on Jury's Verdict (Sanjay Wadhwa, July 2, 2024)
- ·SEC Civil Complaint, SEC v. Gentile, No. 1:21-cv-21079 (S.D. Fla., Mar. 22, 2021)
- ·SEC Litigation Release No. 25058 (SureTrader)
- ·Bloomberg — Brokerage Owner Wins Dismissal of $17M Indictment (Jan 31, 2017)
- ·Reuters — SEC Informant-Turned-Defendant Loses Contempt Case (Mar 30, 2022)
- ·Supreme Court of The Bahamas — MintBroker Liquidation Ruling
- ·FINRA BrokerCheck — Guy Gentile (CRD #2960715)
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