The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that 15 brokerage firms had agreed to pay a combined $13 million to settle charges of violations in the auction rate securities market for municipal and corporate bonds.
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Fines of $1.5 million each were imposed on Bear Stearns Cos., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Securities Inc., Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley, and RBC Dain Rauscher. The firms neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, the agency said.
The SEC said each firm had committed violations involving placement and manipulation of orders in auction rate markets from January 2003 to June 2004. The investigation is continuing, it said.
