Guy Gentile: $19.1M SEC Judgment, Jury Verdict, and Appeal

A federal judge in Miami has ordered Wall Street trader Guy Gentile and his Bahamas-based brokerage to pay more than $19.1 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission, closing out a civil case built around one central finding: Gentile’s firm SureTrader operated as an unregistered broker-dealer for American day traders. The final judgment against Guy Gentile was entered October 20, 2025, and Gentile has said he will appeal.¹

What SureTrader Did and Why the SEC Sued

SureTrader, formally MintBroker International Ltd. (previously Swiss America Securities Ltd.), was a Nassau-based online brokerage that Gentile founded and ran as CEO. Its selling point was direct: it marketed itself to U.S. day traders as a way around FINRA’s Pattern Day Trader rule, which requires anyone making four or more day trades in five business days to keep at least $25,000 in equity. SureTrader let customers open accounts with as little as $500.²

The firm’s website carried disclaimers saying it was not intended for U.S. residents, but the SEC alleged that up to 80 percent of the customer base was American. The complaint described SureTrader’s compliance measures as shams: a “bogus” IP blocker, “Unsolicited Acknowledgement Agreements” that U.S. customers were told to sign, and shell companies used to move American funds. Solicitation ran through the firm’s website, email campaigns, and affiliate day-trading education sites. At its peak the operation employed as many as 75 staff at the “Elizabeth on Bay” plaza on Bay Street in Nassau.²³

The SEC filed its enforcement action on March 22, 2021, in the Southern District of Florida. The single charge: operating as an unregistered broker-dealer in violation of Section 15(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act. Section 15(a)(1) requires any broker or dealer serving U.S. customers to register with the SEC, regardless of where the firm itself is based.⁴

How the $19.1 Million Breaks Down

Judge Beth Bloom issued the remedies order on September 18, 2025, adopting a magistrate judge’s recommendations. The numbers:

$13,129,809 in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, owed jointly and severally by Gentile and SureTrader
$520,200 in additional individual disgorgement from Gentile
$1,887,378 civil penalty against Gentile
$3,618,199.14 in prejudgment interest, added September 30, 2025

The final judgment entered October 20, 2025, brought the total to $19,155,586.14, payable within 30 days. That figure came in roughly $1 million below the $20.1 million the SEC had originally sought.⁵³

Judge Bloom rejected Gentile’s argument that joint and several liability was improper, pointing to the jury’s control-person finding. She also rejected his claim that he never received a $1.3 million consulting fee, citing financial statements and his status as a beneficiary of the Swiss America Asset Trust.⁵

The judgment authorizes the SEC to use all available collection tools, including civil contempt motions and the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act, and permits the agency to propose a plan for distributing recovered funds to harmed investors.¹

The Jury’s Findings

The case went to a ten-day jury trial in the summer of 2024. On July 2, 2024, the jury returned its verdict:

SureTrader was liable for operating without registration.
Gentile was liable as a control person under the Exchange Act.
Gentile was also liable for inducing the firm’s violations.

The SEC alleged that from March 2016 through November 2019, Gentile and SureTrader received millions of dollars in transaction-based compensation from the unregistered activity.⁶⁴

Gentile’s Response and Appeal

Gentile has been public and combative about the ruling. He called the SEC’s case a “sham” and a “vendetta,” and described the prosecution as “vindictive” retaliation for his outspoken criticism of the agency. He pointed to compliance costs the Bahamas operation incurred, including $173,324 in Bahamian registration fees and $68,175 paid to the accounting firm BDO, as proof that SureTrader was a legitimate business. “My legacy stands, unshaken by this political attack,” he told The Tribune in Nassau.³

His attorneys have said he plans to appeal the judgment to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.⁷

Why Gentile Frames This as Retaliation

Gentile’s retaliation narrative rests on his years as an FBI cooperator. In July 2012, then 36 and running an online brokerage in the Bahamas that generated about $1 million a year, he agreed to become a cooperating informant. Reports at the time described a tacit understanding that his own pending penny-stock charges would be reduced or dropped once he produced results.⁸⁹

Over roughly three years he targeted stock scammers for the FBI. The cooperation collapsed in 2015 when the FBI expected him to plead guilty to a felony tied to the original allegations and he refused. Gentile then revealed that he had been secretly recording his conversations with his handlers throughout the cooperation period. He has since characterized the government’s actions against him as retaliation for stopping his cooperation and publicly criticizing the FBI and SEC.⁹¹⁰

In February 2019 he filed a federal complaint in Newark seeking to quash several SEC subpoenas, calling them an “abuse of process” intended to harass him for ending his cooperation, defeating the SEC in earlier litigation, and what he described as “whistleblowing against an SEC employee.”¹⁰

Does the Pattern Day Trader Rule Change Undo the Judgment?

No. On April 14, 2026, the SEC approved FINRA’s rule change SR-FINRA-2025-017, which eliminates the Pattern Day Trader designation and its $25,000 minimum equity requirement and replaces them with updated intraday margin standards. The change takes effect 45 days after FINRA publishes a regulatory notice, with an 18-month phase-in for member firms.¹¹¹²

Gentile has argued the change vindicates his position, since it removes the rule SureTrader was built to circumvent. It does not, however, alter the legal requirement that broker-dealers serving U.S. customers register with the SEC. That registration requirement, not the Pattern Day Trader rule itself, was the violation the jury found and the judgment enforced.

Bahamian Regulatory History

SureTrader also drew scrutiny at home. In July 2018 the firm paid a $120,000 penalty to the Securities Commission of the Bahamas for local-law violations. In September 2019 the Commission suspended its registration for five days over concerns about trade execution and undisclosed subsidiaries. By November 2019 SureTrader stopped operating as a broker-dealer after its clearing firm changed terms of service. Gentile used a judicial review challenge to delay further Bahamian regulatory action long enough to wind the firm down himself and move its assets out of the country before the Commission could intervene. In March 2020 the Commission filed a winding-up petition in the Supreme Court of the Bahamas.³²

Another Judgment Still on the Books

The SEC case is not the only major money judgment Gentile faces. In a separate private lawsuit, Avalon Holdings Corp. and New Concept Energy, Inc., two NYSE-traded companies, sued Gentile and MintBroker under Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act. That provision requires beneficial owners holding more than 10 percent of a company to disgorge profits from short-swing transactions. The companies alleged MintBroker, at Gentile’s direction, acquired more than 10 percent of each company’s shares and engaged in short-swing trading while attempting to gain board control.

On February 5, 2024, Judge Denise L. Cote adopted a magistrate’s report awarding Avalon $6,235,908 and New Concept $6,102,002 in disgorged profits, plus prejudgment interest, a combined judgment above $16 million. Gentile’s motion to “clarify and correct” the judgment was denied in April 2026.¹³

1
SEC. Final Judgment, SEC v. MintBroker International Ltd. and Guy Gentile
2
SEC. SEC Complaint, SEC v. MintBroker International Ltd. and Guy Gentile
3
The Tribune (Bahamas). Ex-FBI Informant: My Legacy Stands Despite $19.2M Fines
4
SEC. SEC v. MintBroker International Ltd. and Guy Gentile, Litigation Release No. 25058
5
GovInfo. SEC v. MintBroker International Ltd. and Guy Gentile, Order on Remedies
6
SEC. Statement on Jury Verdict in SEC v. Guy Gentile
7
Law360. Ex-FBI Informant Gentile Owes SEC Over $15.5M, Judge Rules
8
Bloomberg. The Wall Street Informant Who Double-Crossed the FBI
9
InsideHook. The Wall Street Informant Who Double-Crossed the FBI
10
Courthouse News Service. Rogue Informant Sues SEC Over Retaliatory Subpoenas
11
SEC. SEC Order Approving SR-FINRA-2025-017
12
FINRA. FINRA Weekly Update
13
Justia. Avalon Holdings Corp. v. Gentile et al.