On October 1st, the Eighth Circuit addressed who is a customer for purposes of FINRA arbitration. Plaintiff was the managing broker-dealer for a private securities offering in which defendants were investors. When the securities failed to perform as expected, defendants filed FINRA arbitration claims against plaintiff. The Eighth Circuit holds defendants were not plaintiff's customers for purposes of FINRA arbitration. Any brokerage services plaintiff provided were to the issuer, not to the investors. Defendants, therefore, were not entitled to FINRA arbitration. Berthel Fisher & Co. Financial Services Inc. v. Larmon.