Tripoint Global Equities, an early advocate of issuing securities under updated rules for Reg A+, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to shut down its broker-dealer . The information was part of a recently filed Focus report.
To quote the document:
“On March 13, 2020, the Company filed a Form BDW (the Uniform Request for Broker-Dealer Withdrawal) to terminate the Firm’s registration with FINRA, all other self-regulatory organizations (SROs), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and all jurisdictions. The filing of termination is subject to approval by the SEC which is expected to be obtained within 60 days. Accordingly, the Company is no longer operating as a Broker Dealer.”
Tripoint Global was also affiliated with Banq.co (not to be confused with the payment App) – an entity that is now under the control of Cambria Capital – a different BD. At one point in time, Banq had indicated its intent to move into the security token sector of digital assets.
Tripoint Global facilitated several Reg A+ issuers in raising capital online. In fact, Tripoint was the conduit for the first Reg A+ issuer to trade on an exchange in the offering of Myomo (NYSE:MYO).
Regulation A, or Reg A+ as it is typically called, was part of the JOBS Act of 2012 – the law the enabled crowdfunding. The securities exemption received an update under the law thus reinvigorating interest from issuers. A recent report produced by the SEC indicated growing utilization of Reg A+ but mainly from real estate offerings.
In a Broker Check Report filed with FINRA, the firm was named as a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging a failure to establish and implement AML policies and report suspicious activity. According to FINRA, the head of trading failed to identify nor investigate “red flags” with regards to its customers’ activities and the deposit and liquidation of penny stocks.
According to the document filed with the SEC, on November 7, 2019, Tripoint settled a FINRA arbitration matter. The company said the plaintiff’s allegations were without merit – settling without admitting nor denying the allegations.
On November 8, 2019, a separate Wells Notice was received by the company from FINRA.
Tripoint also noted that the company is currently a defendant in two civil lawsuits arising from the company acting as a placement agent for 875 Holdings and Advanced Entertainment. These entities were the target of an SEC enforcement action in 2017.