Judge lifts SEC bar against Richard Goble

A federal judge has lifted a lifetime bar against regulatory gadfly and former Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. board member Richard Goble, and ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to return a $7,500 fine he paid. In a separate decision, Judge Mary Scriven of the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida in Orlando, also entered a permanent injunction against Mr. Goble, forbidding him from aiding or abetting in the failure of any broker-dealer or violating SEC rules. The action effectively frees up Mr. Goble to re-enter the securities industry. “It's not a very substantial injunction, as opposed to what [the SEC had been] seeking — a lifetime bar,” said Eric Lee, Mr. Goble's attorney at Lee & Amtzis PL. “But they got what they wanted,” Mr. Lee said. “They shut down his firm, and he resigned from the [Finra] board of governors.” Mr. Lee did not know what Mr. Goble's immediate plans are. “I think he's disheartened,” Mr. Lee said. Mr. Goble declined to comment. Robert Levenson, the SEC attorney in Miami prosecuting the case, did not return a call. Mr. Lee said either side could appeal the court's decision. He did not know whether Mr. Goble will appeal the injunction. The flamboyant Mr. Goble was well-known in the broker-dealer community as an outspoken critic of regulators. An industry group he co-founded, the Financial Industry Association, had some success running independent candidates for the Finra board and district committees In 2007, Mr. Goble himself won a spot on the Finra board. But in 2008, the SEC charged him for an improper customer reserve transaction, an action the agency said was done in an attempt to keep his struggling firm, North American Clearing Inc., afloat. The SEC shut down the firm in May of that year, and Mr. Goble resigned his Finra board seat. A court-appointed receiver later liquidated North American, which at one time cleared trades for about 40 small broker-dealer firms. In 2011, judge Scriven found Mr. Goble liable for securities fraud, and of aiding and abetting. He was permanently banned from the industry and fined $7,500. An appeals court later upheld the aiding-and-abetting violation, threw out the fraud charge and sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider the lifetime bar and the fine.