SEC Censures OTC Link LLC, Imposes $575,000 Penalty
OTC Link LLC must pay $575,000 and comply with Regulation SCI after violations from Aug 2016 through Mar 2025.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a cease-and-desist order, a censure, and a civil penalty of $575,000 against New York-based broker-dealer OTC Link LLC for repeated failures to meet Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (SCI) requirements.
The SEC's settled order finds that between August 2016 and March 2025 OTC Link LLC did not establish, maintain, or enforce written policies and procedures required for its OTC Link ATS, including those related to system security, access control, and application vulnerability management, testing, and remediation. Division of Examinations staff examined the ATS multiple times and each time flagged missing or draft policies that the firm failed to finalize or enforce.
"OTC Link's continual failure to remediate deficiencies even after they were repeatedly flagged by Division of Examinations staff reflects a disregard for their findings and the overall examinations process and justifies a meaningful penalty," said Laura D'Allaird, Chief of the Division of Enforcement's Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit.
The order also finds violations of Rule 1001(a)(1), (a)(2), and (a)(3) for lacking policies designed to ensure adequate capacity, integrity, resiliency, availability, and security of the ATS's SCI systems and for not periodically reviewing or promptly correcting deficiencies.
OTC Link LLC agreed to the censure and penalty without admitting the findings, and the SEC's order now binds the firm to remediate the identified compliance gaps.
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