All information in this report was compiled from public records maintained by the SEC.
Aryeh Goldstein, 51, of Miami Beach, Florida, entered into an SEC order March 1, instituting administrative proceedings for acting as an unregistered securities dealer.
Goldstein is the sole owner and managing member of Adar Bays and Adar Alef, both limited liability corporations. The SEC alleged that from at least 2014, he and the businesses he controlled issued loans to distressed penny stock companies, converting the debt and selling discounted shares into the market. Acting as unregistered securities dealers, they sold many discounted shares to investors at market prices, generating millions of dollars in profits. As a result, Goldstein and his firms profited when the loans were repaid and received more money when issuers failed to make payments, the SEC noted in a news release.
Goldstein and his businesses were named as defendants in the civil action, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Aryeh Goldstein, et al., Civil Action Number 1:24-CV-20261-KMM, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which included disgorgement of $1,044,252, with prejudgment interest of $100,748.
The SEC also imposed a five-year bar on Goldstein from association with any broker, transfer agent, municipal adviser, municipal securities dealer, dealer, or statistical rating organization and from offering penny stocks.
Additionally, on Feb. 6, SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda, in his “Statement on Further Definition of ‘As a Part of a Regular Business’ in the Definition of Dealer,” commented, “Staff guidance on the Commission’s website since 2008 suggested that individuals who buy and sell securities for themselves are not considered dealers and lists a number of factors for consideration.
Goldstein and his firm did not appear to hold themselves out as dealers, did not have customers, nor did they advertise themselves as such. “The Commission’s rulemaking could have addressed this regulatory ambiguity, but did not,” the SEC said.
