https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-jones-05-01-2023/card/virtu-stock-falls-after-disclosure-of-potential-sec-enforcement-action-w8oxzdAvCUYsPpvvpSDn
Shares of Virtu Financial are down more than 3% after the electronic trading firm disclosed Friday that it is facing a potential enforcement lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Virtu disclosed in a quarterly filing after Friday’s closing bell that it had engaged in settlement discussions with the SEC about an investigation related to “information barriers policies and procedures” between January 2018 and April 2019.
The company first disclosed the probe in February. Its updated disclosure suggested that the SEC could be moving forward with a lawsuit.
Virtu said it “currently believes it may receive a Wells notice from the SEC,” referring to a type of letter that the agency’s staffers send to companies or individuals to inform them of a possible enforcement action.
A Virtu spokesman said the investigation was “primarily focused on an access controls weakness in one of our internal back office systems containing post trade information that theoretically could allow certain system users access greater than what was intended by our policies.”
