Federal securities regulators are intensifying a broad investigation into trading of pre-IPO shares, zeroing in on companies that help technology-firm employees and others resell their shares, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In a Nov. 25 court filing, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered an unregistered brokerage firm under investigation, NetCirq LLC, to comply with an SEC subpoena sent on April 7. The filing, in a San Francisco federal court, says that the SEC broadly is investigating whether trading of pre-IPO shares could violate securities laws under the Dodd-Frank Act because some of the transactions could be considered “swaps,” or agreements whose value is tied to a future event.
