SEC Files Civil Complaint Against Dennis Butler

Dennis Butler (CRD #: 4491587), a broker formerly registered with PHX Financial, allegedly acted as an unregistered broker, according to his BrokerCheck record, accessed on January 7, 2025. If you have questions about his alleged conduct as a broker, keep reading.

SEC Civil Complaint

On December 10, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Dennis Butler, Tayt Dencer, Luke Dencer, and Standard Holdings, Inc. (Standard Holdings) and Standard Huaxia, Ltd. (Huaxia). The complaint alleged that, from late 2017 to at least 2023, Standard Holdings defrauded at least 40 investors.

Standard Holdings and Huaxia allegedly raised more than $17 million from these investors, purporting to form a company to provide an app-based streaming service to China. The defendants, excluding Dennis Butler, allegedly misappropriated investor funds raised via shares of common stock and promissory notes.

They allegedly also made false and misleading statements to investors about the use, value, and protection of their investments. In particular, the SEC alleged that Standard Holdings and Huaxia never developed an app or had any content ready for distribution, and had no agreements to establish a streaming service in China.

As part of this scheme, Dennis Butler allegedly worked as an unregistered broker on behalf of Standard Holdings and Huaxia. He allegedly raised more than $2.3 million for Standard Holdings and Huaxia from 2019 through at least July 2022 by selling approximately 1.15 million shares of Huaxia Class A common stock to 15 investors. He allegedly received at least $235,700 in transaction-based compensation in connection with these sales.

The SEC alleged that Dennis Butler violated Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

This complaint is currently pending.

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 prohibits unregistered brokers and dealers from engaging in or inducing the purchase or sale of securities.

Background Information

Dennis Butler has passed the following exams:

• Securities Industry Essentials Examination – SIE
• General Securities Representative Examination – Series 7
• Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination – Series 63

He previously worked for the following firms:

• PHX Financial (CRD#:144403)
• Rockwell Securities (CRD#:142483)
• John Thomas Financial (CRD#:40982)
• Legend Securities (CRD#:44952)
• Garden State Securities (CRD#:10083)
• Charles Morgan Securities (CRD#:138887)
• Avalon Partners (CRD#:41357)
• Granta Capital Group (CRD#:114657)
• Spartan Capital Management (CRD#:146251)
• Arjent Services (CRD#:131431)
• Legend Merchant Group (CRD#:5155)
• Sky Capital (CRD#:114657)
• Maxim Group (CRD#:120708)
• Ladenburg Capital Management (CRD#:14623)

Kurta Law Can Help

If you worked with Dennis Butler and you have concerns about your investments, please contact us today at 877-600-0098 or info@kurtalawfirm.com for a free consultation.

For over 20 years, Kurta Law has advocated on behalf of investors who want to recover their investment losses from brokers and brokerage firms. Kurta Law is a nationally recognized law firm that exclusively represents investors against brokers and brokerage firms on a contingency basis. This means that the firm only earns a fee if our securities attorneys recover money on your behalf.