WASHINGTON(MarketWatch) –
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged Merrill Lynch with securities fraud for "misusing customer order information" to place proprietary trades and for charging customers undisclosed trading fees. Merrill has agreed to a $10 million settlement for charging customers undisclosed trading fees, according to the SEC.
"Investors have the right to expect that their brokers won't misuse their order information," said SEC associate director Scott Friestad. "The conduct here was clearly inappropriate. Merrill's proprietary traders had improper access to information about the firm's customer orders, and misused it to place trades on the firm's behalf." Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch with the assistance of government bailout dollars during the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576104090997516476.html?ru=MKTW&mod=MKTW
Ronald K
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged Merrill Lynch with securities fraud for "misusing customer order information" to place proprietary trades and for charging customers undisclosed trading fees. Merrill has agreed to a $10 million settlement for charging customers undisclosed trading fees, according to the SEC.
"Investors have the right to expect that their brokers won't misuse their order information," said SEC associate director Scott Friestad. "The conduct here was clearly inappropriate. Merrill's proprietary traders had improper access to information about the firm's customer orders, and misused it to place trades on the firm's behalf." Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch with the assistance of government bailout dollars during the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576104090997516476.html?ru=MKTW&mod=MKTW
Ronald K
