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Judge to decide SEC case against Finra critic Goble

Defendant said regulator came after him because of his criticism of Finra

A final decision in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Richard Goble and his firm, North American Clearing Inc., is now awaiting a decision by a federal judge.
Judge Mary Scriven of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando could rule within a few weeks, lawyers involved with the case say.
Either side could appeal an adverse ruling.
Judge Scriven conducted a bench trial in May, and the parties filed their respective findings of fact this month, which summarized their positions.
The case against Mr. Goble and his firm began in 2008 when the SEC filed charges alleging that Mr. Goble improperly liquidated customers’ money market funds. The liquidations had the effect of indirectly financing the firm’s operations, the SEC said.
A court-appointed receiver later liquidated North American.
Mr. Goble, an outspoken critic of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., has steadfastly denied the charges, saying the case against him came in retaliation for his outspokenness.
In his court filing this month, Mr. Goble said the SEC never proved that customer funds were used illegally and it never alleged customers lost money.
Mr. Goble feels regulators took his “$15 million [in firm revenues] and made it zero,” said Mr. Goble’s attorney, Robert Sirianni of the Brownstone PA law firm in Winter Park, Fla. “That’s not right.”
Robert Levenson, one of the SEC attorneys in Miami who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
Prior to his run-in with the SEC, Mr. Goble had some success in running independent candidates for the board and district committees of Finra.
In 2007, Mr. Goble himself won a spot on the Finra board. After the SEC filed charges against him, he resigned his board seat.