TradeZero America, Inc. was fined $250,000 for findings that its influencer communications were not fair and balanced and included exaggerated and promissory statements.

ACS Execution Services, LLC was fined $250,000 for failing to obtain locates for short sale orders as required by Rule 203(b)(1) of Regulation SHO.

Merrill Lynch was fined $825,000 for failing to review the execution timeliness of orders processed through the firm’s electronic order systems from the time the orders were routed to a market center for further handling or execution and the final execution time.

The SEC alleges that companies engaged in the business of purchasing convertible securities from penny stock issuers, converting those securities into common stock at a large discount from the prevailing market price, and quickly selling the newly issued shares into the market for a profit.

M1 Finance LLC was fined $400,000 for incorrectly treating all sales as long, effecting sell orders that required compliance with Regulation SHO Rule 203(b)(1), without obtaining a locate for the short sale.

SoFi Securities was fined $1,100,000 for findings that it created, and rolled out to the public, a cash management brokerage account wherein applicants were able to steal from customers of other institutions, and used the firm’s cash management brokerage account to withdraw the funds.

Flow Traders U.S. was fined $50,000 for failing to establish, document, and maintain financial risk management controls and supervisory procedures reasonably designed to prevent the entry of orders that exceed appropriate pre-set capital thresholds in the aggregate for the firm.

Cobra Trading, Inc. was fined $200,000 for findings that it paid influencers for promotional communications on social media platforms, including online interactive forums and video sharing platforms, but certain influencer communications were not fair and balanced or made claims that were promissory.

M1 Finance LLC was fined $850,000 for social media posts made by influencers on the firm’s behalf that were not fair or balanced, or contained exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory or misleading claims

GTS Securities LLC was fined a total of $100,000 for routing erroneous orders to the market that were generated through the firm’s trading engine by some of the firm’s trading algorithms.

Goldman Sachs & Co was fined a total of $512,500 due to its supervisory system was not reasonably designed to identify potentially manipulative trading activity.

TradeStation Securities was fined $700,00 for failing to develop and implement reasonable escalation and tracking procedures for its anti-money laundering (AML) program.

Wilson-Davis & Co., Inc. was fined a total of $1,100,000 for Regulation SHO and AML violations.

Interactive Brokers LLC was fined $3.5 million due to its reviews of customer execution quality failing to meet the reasonable diligence standard of FINRA Rule 5310 and the regular-and-rigorous review requirements of FINRA Rule 5310.09.

Elevation, LLC was fined $75,000 for failing to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including WSPs, reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable federal securities laws and FINRA rules prohibiting fraudulent trading in equity securities.

Four firms — M1 Finance LLC, Open to the Public Investing, Inc., SoFi Securities LLC, and SogoTrade, Inc. — were fined a combined $2.6 million, including over $1 million in restitution to retail customers enrolled in fully paid securities lending programs and fines of $1.6 million for the firms’ related supervisory and advertising violations.

Alterna Securities, Inc. was fined $32,500 for failing to maintain a supervisory system, including WSPs, was not reasonably designed to surveil for potentially manipulative pre-arranged trades.

Puma Capital was fined $100,000 in that, despite receiving a warning from FINRA, the firm had no policy or process to determine whether the intermarket sweep orders (ISOs) it routed were received and executed as intended by the venues to which it directed them.

Tradition Securities and Derivatives LLC was fined $140,000 in that it failed to record transmission times and to include the correct exchange of execution on its order tickets.

BGC Financial, L.P. fined $200,000 for failing to establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to detect potential spoofing and layering in equity securities.