North American Clearing to be liquidated

North American Clearing Inc. has been put into liquidation by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. of New York. In an announcement posted yesterday on North American's website, SIPC trustee Robert Gilbert, of the law firm Carlton Fields PA in West Palm Beach, Fla., alerted North American's remaining customers, correspondent firms and creditors that he was appointed SIPC trustee Monday. Longwood, Fla.-based North American was put under receivership in May after the Securities and Exchange Commission brought charges against the firm and its owner, Richard Goble. The SEC charged the firm with using client assets to finance its operations. Most of North American's 40 correspondent firms have found new clearing firms. About 4,000 customer accounts out of an initial 15,500 remain at North American. Most of the remaining accounts were propriety accounts of North American taken on from past correspondents that had ceased operations. In addition, some of the deposits and commissions belonging to broker-dealers that cleared through North American are still tied up. Mr. Gilbert was not immediately available for comment. Mr. Goble is founder of the Financial Industry Association of Longwood, a group that represented small dealers and was a prominent critic of regulators. Last year, he won a small-firm spot on the board of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. of New York and Washington. He has since resigned his board seat.