Back in February, I wrote a piece on what to do when you get an SEC subpoena. SEC subpoenas are only part of the securities regulatory landscape. While the SEC can and will subpoena anyone – registered or unregistered – who is potentially the target of or may have helpful information related to an SEC investigation, FINRA registered representatives are additionally subject to FINRA inquiries via FINRA Rule 8210.
FINRA Rule 8210 allows FINRA investigators to essentially “subpoena” a person – i.e., require that they testify on the record and/or compel them to produce documents – without actually ever getting a subpoena. Instead, FINRA uses what is commonly (and not surprisingly) referred to as an “8210 Request.”
8210 Requests are similar to SEC subpoenas in their function, but differ slightly in practice. FINRA investigators will regularly tell parties that FINRA is not the government, but merely a private member organization. Why is that significant? Some may say that it’s significant because FINRA cannot actually “require” someone to come testify under a threat of contempt or jailtime; that your response is, in a way, “voluntary.”