US Investment Firm Discloses Potential Sanctions Violations

TradeStation Group, the U.S.-based parent company of an online securities and brokerage firm, said it may have violated U.S. sanctions. The company on June 29 submitted a voluntary self-disclosure to the Office of Foreign Assets Control after discovering its platform may have been accessed from a sanctioned country or by a sanctioned entity or person, TradeStation said in a July 1 SEC filing. The disclosure included information on a “nominal percentage of its customers’ compliance with OFAC’s comprehensive territorial-based sanctions,” the company said.

Although it “employs technology which includes features designed to block access to its services from sanctioned countries,” TradeStation said its platform and services can “potentially be illegitimately accessed from anywhere in the world.” The company said it may be subject to “consequences,” including “public censure,” monetary civil penalties or other “enforcement actions and severe penalties.”