Document ID: SEC-2020-0815-0001
Agency: sec
Document Type: Notice
Title: Intent to Cancel Registration Pursuant to Section 203(h) of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940
Posted Date: 2020-05-22T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 100 (Friday, May 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31245-31246]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-11031]

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. IA-5504]

Intention To Cancel Registration Pursuant to Section 203(H) of 
the Investment Advisers Act of 1940

May 18, 2020.
    Notice is given that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 
``Commission'') intends to issue an order, pursuant to Section 203(h) 
of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the ``Act''), cancelling the 
registration of Strategic Options, LLC [File No. 801-106576], 
hereinafter referred to as the ``registrant.''
    Section 203(h) provides, in pertinent part, that if the Commission 
finds that any person registered under Section 203, or who has pending 
an application for registration filed under that section, is no longer 
in existence, is not engaged in business as an investment adviser, or 
is prohibited from registering as an

[[Page 31246]]

investment adviser under section 203A, the Commission shall by order, 
cancel the registration of such person.
    The registrant indicated on its initial and its most recent Form 
ADV filings that it is relying on rule 203A-2(e) to register with the 
Commission, which provides an exemption from the prohibition on 
registration for an adviser that provides investment advice to all of 
its clients exclusively through the adviser's interactive website, 
except that the adviser may advise fewer than 15 clients through other 
means during the preceding 12 months.\1\ The Commission believes, based 
on the facts it has, that the registrant did not at the time of the 
Form ADV filings and thereafter, advise clients through an interactive 
website as defined under the rule,\2\ and that it is therefore 
prohibited from registering as an investment adviser under section 203A 
of the Act. Accordingly, the Commission believes that reasonable 
grounds exist for a finding that this registrant is no longer eligible 
to be registered with the Commission as an investment adviser and that 
the registration should be cancelled pursuant to section 203(h) of the 
Act.
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    \1\ Section 203A of the Act generally prohibits an investment 
adviser from registering with the Commission unless it meets certain 
requirements. Rule 203A-2 provides exemptions from the prohibition 
on Commission registration in section 203A of the Act. Rule 203A-
2(e) exempts from the prohibition on Commission registration certain 
investment advisers that provide advisory services through the 
internet, as described above. See Exemption for Certain Investment 
Advisers Operating Through the Internet, Investment Advisers Act 
Release No. 2091 (December 12, 2002), available at https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/ia-2091.htm (``Internet Adviser Exemption 
Adopting Release''). Effective September 19, 2011, rule 203A-2(f) 
was renumbered as rule 203A-2(e). See Rules Implementing Amendments 
to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Investment Advisers Act 
Release No. 3221 (June 22, 2011), available at http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2011/ia-3221.pdf.
    \2\ Rule 203A-2(e) defines ``interactive website'' as a website 
in which computer software-based models or applications provide 
investment advice to clients based on personal information provided 
by each client through the website. An adviser relying on the 
exemption may not use its advisory personnel to elaborate or expand 
upon the investment advice provided by its interactive website, or 
otherwise provide investment advice to its internet clients, except 
as permitted by the rule's de minimis exception. Such exception 
permits an adviser relying on the rule to advise clients through 
means other than its interactive website, so long as the adviser had 
fewer than 15 of these non-internet clients during the preceding 12 
months. See internet Adviser Exemption Adopting Release, id.
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    Notice is also given that any interested person may, by June 12, 
2020, at 5:30 p.m., submit to the Commission in writing a request for a 
hearing on the cancellation, accompanied by a statement as to the 
nature of his or her interest, the reason for such request, and the 
issues, if any, of fact or law proposed to be controverted, and he or 
she may request that he or she be notified if the Commission should 
order a hearing thereon. Any such communication should be emailed to 
the Commission's Secretary at Secretarys-Office@sec.gov.
    At any time after June 12, 2020, the Commission may issue an order 
cancelling the registration, upon the basis of the information stated 
above, unless an order for a hearing on the cancellation shall be 
issued upon request or upon the Commission's own motion. Persons who 
requested a hearing, or who requested to be advised as to whether a 
hearing is ordered, will receive any notices and orders issued in this 
matter, including the date of the hearing (if ordered) and any 
postponements thereof. Any adviser whose registration is cancelled 
under delegated authority may appeal that decision directly to the 
Commission in accordance with rules 430 and 431 of the Commission's 
rules of practice (17 CFR 201.430 and 431).

ADDRESSES:  The Commission: Secretarys-Office@sec.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Juliet Han, Senior Counsel at 202-
551-6999; SEC, Division of Investment Management, Investment Adviser 
Regulation Office, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-8549.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\3\
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    \3\ 17 CFR 200.30-5(e)(2).
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J. Matthew DeLesDernier,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-11031 Filed 5-21-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P