Welcome to the North Carolina Securities Division website! Whether you are an investor or work in the securities industry, we hope that you will find this website to be a useful source of information.

The North Carolina Securities Division is physically in the Millbrook Collection Shopping Center located at 4701 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 116, Raleigh, NC. Our mailing address is PO Box 29622, Raleigh, NC 27626-0622. Our telephone number is (919) 733-3924 or toll-free at (800) 688-4507. Our telefax number is (919) 807-2183. General email queries may continue to be sent to secdiv@sosnc.com. To file a complaint, please see the procedures listed under "How to File a Complaint" listed in the menu to the left."

NEW! NASAA Warns Investors to Watch for Sandy Scams

Important Information for ZeekRewards Investors

Electronic Investment Company Notice Filing now Available!

North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty for His Role in $40 Million Investment Fraud Conspiracy

On October 24, 2011, Bryan Keith Coats of Clayton, NC, pled guilty in US District Court in Charlotte to one count of conspiracy to commit commodities, securities, and wire fraud and one count of promotional money laundering conspiracy. This was a case that was jointly investigated by the North Carolina Securities Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division. Click here to read the full press release.

Federal Court Orders Charlotte, NC, Couple and Their Companies to Pay $24 Million for Defrauding Customers in Foreign Currency Ponzi Scheme

In an announcement on November 1, 2011, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it had obtained a federal court supplemental consent order requiring defendants Sidney S. Hanson, Charlotte M. Hanson, and their companies, Queen Shoals, LLC, Queen Shoals II, LLC, and Select Fund, LLC to pay $24 million in restitution and civil monetary penalties for defrauding customers and misappropriating millions of dollars in a foreign currency (forex) Ponzi scheme. In making its announcement, the CFTC acknowledged the assistance of the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State (Securities Division), the U.S. Marshall’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the United States Attorney, Western District of North Carolina. Click here to read the full announcement.

Information for registered investment advisers subject to the Dodd-Frank "Switch"

Order granting temporary relief for investment advisers previously exempt from registration under N.C.G.S. §78C-16(a)(4).

Investment Company Notice Filing Fee Amendment

With the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, this CNNMoney.com article explains how state securities regulators will have some increased power to catch financial bad guys again. Click here to read the article.

Securities Administrative Rules Adopted

 Securities Salesman Fee Amendment

State filing requirements for Issuers Relying on the Securities Act of 1933, Regulation D, Rule 506 beginning March 16, 2009. Click here for more information.

 

Madoff-style Ponzi Schemes: Investors are warned not to trust investment schemes that promise above average returns with little or no risk. To learn how to recognize and avoid becoming a victim of a Bernard Madoff-style Ponzi scheme, read this NASAA investor alert. For more information on how to become a better informed investor, please browse the "Investor Education Resources" section of our website.

If you are an investor, and someone is offering you an investment opportunity that sounds "too good to be true," - IT PROBABLY IS!!! We encourage investors to make sure that any investment offer and the person making the offer are properly registered with the state by calling our investor hotline at
(800) 688-4507.

The offer, sale, and purchase of securities are subject to a very complex system of regulation carried out by federal, state, and self-regulatory agencies. We administer North Carolina’s securities laws, which are located in Chapters 78A and 78C of the North Carolina General Statutes. The intent of these laws is to protect the investing public by requiring a satisfactory investigation of both the people who offer securities as investments and of the securities themselves. The Securities Division also addresses investor complaints concerning securities brokers and dealers, investment advisers and commodity dealers as well as complaints about offerings of particular investments. Although the Division cannot represent an investor in a claim for monetary damages, the staff can investigate alleged violations and may suspend or revoke licenses, issue stop orders against securities offerings, issue cease-and-desist orders, seek court-ordered injunctions or refer matters to an appropriate district attorney for criminal prosecution. Conviction of willfully violating the securities statutes carries the penalty of a felony.

Again, welcome to our site. Take a look at the information available from the links on this page, and please contact us if we can be of any help!

 
 
For more information, please contact us at:
The Securities Division
Department of the Secretary of State
PO Box 29622
Raleigh, NC 27626-0622
(919) 733-3924
 
For overnight mail:
The Securities Division
Department of the Secretary of State
2 South Salisbury St
Raleigh, NC 27601-2903

The Securities Hotline
(800) 688-4507
 
Deputy Securities Administrator David Massey, (919) 733-3924
 

The Division also administers the Qualified Business Tax Credit Program in which investors may obtain tax credits based on money invested in qualified business ventures, qualified grantee businesses, and qualified licensee businesses -- all registered by the Secretary of State.

As the state's securities administrator, the Secretary of State is a member of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), and works with other state securities agencies, federal agencies and industry groups to adopt uniform policies on securities regulation.