In his opening remarks to jurors, Gentile’s attorney Matthew Ford said the SEC had for years assured his client that a foreign broker-dealer that shared SureTrader’s policies could accept U.S. customers. The company had required all U.S. customers to sign a form stating that it did not solicit them to become a client, he said.
Ford called the Financial Industry Regulatory Association, which set the $25,000 minimum rule, a “country club” that decides who has enough money to play in the stock market.
“Why are there so many people from the U.S. government who so desperately want to prohibit people from trading stocks?” he asked.
