Securities Broker Asks Supreme Court to Block FINRA Proceeding

An embattled securities broker urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to block an enforcement proceeding from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority while the company challenges the constitutionality of what it calls an “utterly unaccountable” privately run financial regulator.

Salt Lake City-based Alpine Securities Corp. filed the emergency request to stall FINRA’s proceeding after a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said it could move forward pending the company’s constitutional challenge to the regulator’s private powers. The request was addressed to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., who handles emergency appeals out of the D.C. Circuit, though it is likely he will refer the matter to the full court.