Realty Capital Securities fined $3M; will cease business nationwide

BOSTON – Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin said last week that Realty Capital Securities, charged in November with fabricating shareholder proxy votes, will terminate registration in Massachusetts and will subsequently terminate registration nationwide.
Realty Capital Securities will also pay the state a $3 million fine to settle the charges brought by the Massachusetts Securities Division.
Realty Capital Securities LLC was named last month in an administrative complaint that charged that registered representatives in its Boston office impersonated shareholders and cast proxy votes in favor of management proposals at shareholder meetings of Business Development Corporation of America, an investment program sponsored by American Realty Capital, a company owned by Nicholas S. Schorsch and William M. Kahane.
Schorsch is the former chairman and chief operating officer of BDCA. Reality Capital Securities is an affiliate of RCS Capital Corp.
The settlement order states, “Respondent has fully withdrawn from doing business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as of no later than December 4, 2015; has given WARN Act notifications to all of its remaining employees in other jurisdictions as of no later than December 4, 2015; and will fully withdraw its broker-dealer registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission, all Self-Regulatory Organizations, and all remaining jurisdictions promptly upon any applicable notification period expiring.”
In addition to paying the $3 million fine, Realty Capital Securities agreed to a permanent cease-and-desist order as well as a censure.

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