The SEC charged broker-dealer Nationwide Planning Associate, Inc., as well as an affiliated SEC-registered investment adviser, NPA Asset Management, LLC, and state-registered adviser Blue Point Strategic Wealth Management, LLC for impeding brokerage customers and advisory clients from reporting securities law violations to the SEC in violation of Rule 21F-17 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The firms in this case agreed to pay combined civil penalties of $240,000 to settle the SEC’s charges.

This case is instructive to firms in highlighting specific language that SEC staff have objected to under Ruel 21F-17 and the shortcoming in relying on carve-out clauses that are too limiting.