FINRA sanctioned Canaccord Genuity for failing to supervise trillions of shares of equity transactions in low-priced over-the-counter securities — one day after FinCEN assessed a historic $80 million penalty against the same firm — while TradeZero America's CEO stepped into the chief compliance officer role in a notable leadership restructuring across 127 events tracked on Friday.

Canaccord's Second Enforcement Hit in 48 Hours

FINRA found that Canaccord failed to supervise trillions of shares of OTC equity transactions for compliance with rules governing market integrity, in violation of FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010, according to case 2020066079906. The investigation dates back to 2020, and the breadth of the violation — measured in trillions of shares rather than dollar amounts — indicates that the supervisory failures affected a massive volume of low-priced securities activity.

Coming one day after FinCEN's $80 million BSA penalty, the back-to-back enforcement actions paint a picture of systemic compliance deficiencies at the Canadian-headquartered broker-dealer. The FinCEN action targeted AML failures related to securities fraud, while the FINRA action targeted supervision of OTC trading activity. Together, they suggest that Canaccord's compliance infrastructure was insufficient across multiple risk domains simultaneously.

Hochler Sanctioned for Supervision Failures

In a separate action, FINRA sanctioned a firm for failing to reasonably supervise two registered representatives from February 2021 to March 2023, according to case details. Supervision failures involving individual representatives typically involve inadequate review of trading activity, outside business activities, or customer communications.

TradeZero America: CEO Steps Into CCO Role

TradeZero America Inc. (CRD: not disclosed) in Brooklyn filed a restructuring with two simultaneous role changes. CEO Antony Carmine Naccarelli moved to Chief Compliance Officer, while Principal Financial Officer Khris Callejas transitioned to FINOP. A CEO voluntarily moving into a compliance role is highly unusual in the broker-dealer industry and may signal one of several scenarios: regulatory pressure to strengthen compliance oversight, a planned leadership transition, or a strategic decision to elevate compliance as a firm priority during a period of heightened scrutiny.

TradeZero operates as a commission-free trading platform and has positioned itself in the competitive retail brokerage space alongside firms like Robinhood and Webull.

Hidden Road Partners Hires New CFO

Hidden Road Partners CIV US LLC, the New York-based institutional broker-dealer, hired Kristopher Sean Frey as Chief Financial Officer while transitioning John Eliot Knecht from the combined CFO/FINOP role to FINOP only. Hidden Road operates in the institutional prime brokerage and clearing space and has been expanding its operations in digital assets and traditional securities.

The separation of the CFO and FINOP roles is a sign of growing operational complexity. As firms scale, regulators expect them to separate financial oversight functions that were appropriately combined when the firm was smaller.

Alpaca Securities Hires Chief Risk Officer

Alpaca Securities LLC, the New York-based API-driven brokerage, hired Nabeel Zia as Chief Risk Officer. The addition of a dedicated CRO at a technology-first brokerage reflects the maturation of the fintech broker-dealer segment. Firms that began as technology platforms are increasingly building out traditional risk management functions as their trading volumes and customer bases grow.

13 New Advisory Firms Register

Thirteen new firms registered with the SEC, including several notable entrants: Clean Energy Transition International S.A.M. from Monaco, The Energy & Minerals Group LP in Houston, Sky Life Sciences Capital LP in Princeton, and Richmond Hill Investment Co. LP in Austin. The geographic diversity — spanning Monaco to Maryland — reflects the global reach of the SEC-registered advisory channel.

Seven firms closed their registrations. Two firms rebranded: Soulence Wealth Management II simplified its name to Soulence Wealth Management, and JumpStart Health Investors became JumpStart Health.

Across the Wire

Twenty-one advisors changed firm affiliations, 19 disclosure events were recorded, eight new RIAs completed their SEC registration, and Focus Securities LLC in Gainesville saw an ownership change from Focus Holdings USA Inc. to Focus Capital Acquisition LLC — signaling a corporate reorganization at the firm level.

All data sourced from FINRA Disciplinary Actions, FINRA BrokerCheck, SEC Form ADV, and the Finleet Terminal as of March 7, 2026. Entity profiles are available at terminal.finleet.com.