Investigation: Lightspeed Trading, LLC

At the Sonn Law Group, our securities fraud attorneys are actively investigating any fraud claims involving Lightspeed Trading, LLC. If you are currently invested with this firm, or if you have invested with this firm in the past, you need to be aware of all disciplinary action that has been taken against this company.

Lightspeed Trading, LLC: Disciplinary History

Using FINRA’s free BrokerCheck tool, you can access a detailed report of any registered broker-dealer’s history in the industry. More specifically, details pertaining to a firm can be obtained by inputting the company’s CRD number. For example, Lightspeed Trading’s CRD number is 35519. Some of the notable recent allegations against this company include:

• In June of 2006, Lightspeed Trading was accused of violating securities industry supervision requirements, including the anti-money laundering compliance rules. As a result, the firm was fined $175,000.
• In August of 2008, the firm faced allegations that it conducted several hundred short sale transactions in violation of industry rules. As a result of this allegation, the company was: 1) ordered to cease and desist from this practice 2) fined $75,000 and 3) ordered to return money to any customers who suffered losses in relation to these trades.
• In November of 2012, Lightspeed Trading failed to make accurate and timely reports of its trades as was required by securities industry regulations. Due to this misconduct, the firm was hit with a $200,000 penalty.
• In April of 2014, FINRA investigators accused Lightspeed Trading of knowingly and recklessly facilitating the operation of an unregistered broker-dealer. The unregistered broker-dealer in this case was accused of illegally ‘spoofing’ transactions, Without admitting or denying the allegations, the firm was ordered to pay a $100,000 civil penalty and to pay disgorgement of $377,908.70.

‘Spoofing’ Allegations Against LightSpeed Trading

The 2014 spoofing allegations followed a major investigation that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had conducted into a company called Visionary Trading LLC. This New Jersey-based trading firm was accused of engaging in a large-scale illegal spoofing scheme. The spoofing of traders occurs when firms or individuals place a rapid (and high volume) number of orders to create a false illusion of strong market demand, only to then quickly cancel those orders.

This type of investment fraud is used to trick other traders into making decisions based off of artificially inflated (or deflated) prices. Visionary Trading was eventually ordered to pay $3 million in penalties for spoofing. According to investigators, a registered Lightspeed employee also worked at Visionary Trading.

Further, Lightspeed’s technology and systems helped to facilitate the spoofing, and the company made commissions off of the related trades. Even though Lightspeed Trading had advance knowledge of the illegal spoofing, the company failed to take any action to put a stop to it.

Request Your Free Legal Consultation Today

If you lost money investing with Lightspeed Trading, LLC, or due to any misconduct committed by the firm, our team can help. For immediate legal assistance, please do not hesitate to call our office today at 844-689-5754. From our main office in Aventura, Florida, we represent investors throughout the United States and around the world.