The US Securities and Exchange Commission's motion for a partial summary judgement against defendants including Bermuda-based broker-dealer Lines Overseas Management Ltd. has been denied by a US judge.

The SEC had applied for the judgement based their allegations including securities fraud against Bermudian brothers Brian Lines and Scott Lines, as well as LOM, Anthony Wile, Wayne Wile, Robert Chapman, William Todd Peever, Philip James Curtis and Ryan Leeds.

LOM and the Lines brothers filed their own motion for a partial summary judgement in the case, which was also denied by Judge Cote.

Judge Denise Cote's rulings were filed in the US District Court for the Sourthern District of New York on Wednesday.

The rulings mean that two scenarios are now possible in the long-running case - a settlement agreement between the SEC and the defendants, or a court trial.

The SEC claims that in two alleged schemes, the defendants artificially drove up the stock prices of two publicly-traded shell companies, Sedona and SHEP Technologies Inc., through the issuance of misleading information and price manipulation and then, while recommending that their clients buy shares in the companies, secretly sold their own stock.

LOM and the Lines brothers have denied these claims and have stated, in each case, the business opportunity they were working towards was genuine.