SEC v. Equity Trust Company (2015)
Dismissed
Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
The SEC's June 2015 administrative case against self-directed IRA custodian Equity Trust Company ended in dismissal. An administrative law judge had already dismissed the charge, and on 28 September 2017 the Commission held that the record does not support a finding of liability. No penalty or disgorgement was ordered.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 33-9807 |
| Date filed | 2015-06-16 |
| Date resolved | 2017-09-28 |
| Status | dismissed |
| Asset class | bonds, equities |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: guilty plea (Ephren Taylor, who pleaded guilty (Randy Poulson was indicted); the criminal cases concern the offering frauds, not Equity Trust, which was not charged), U.S. District Court (not named in the order) |
| Defendants | Equity Trust Company |
| Cited as charged or alleged | Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Securities Act s.17(a) |
| Techniques |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
The order alleges that Equity Trust actively marketed and carried out custody for at least 100 investors who moved retirement savings into self-directed IRAs and bought fraudulent notes issued by entities Taylor and Poulson controlled, and that its acts and omissions were a cause of those offering frauds. It sets a public hearing to decide on a cease-and-desist order, a penalty and disgorgement.
No technique tag is applied. The only references to Ponzi schemes are general statements that fraud promoters exploit self-directed IRAs; the custodian is not alleged to have run one.
The Division of Enforcement had accused Equity Trust of contributing, through its custody of customers' IRA investments, to two issuers' breaches of the negligence-based fraud provisions of the Securities Act. The law judge dismissed the charge, finding that the Division proved only two of the three elements required under Section 8A. The Division appealed, and in its opinion of 28 September 2017 the Commission upheld the dismissal, concluding that the evidence in the record did not support liability and dismissing the proceeding. The Commission's opinion is a ruling on the evidence in this one proceeding; it is not a finding that the custodian's conduct was proper in any wider sense, and the fraud findings against the two issuers' principals, who were criminally convicted, are unaffected.
For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above. This page summarises the structured record and does not reproduce them.
Timeline
- 2015-06-16 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)
- 2017-09-28 Commission opinion dismisses the proceeding (Release No. 33-10420)
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.