The SEC said J.P. Morgan Securities will pay $153.6 million to settle charges that the firm misled investors in a mortgage-backed securities transaction “just as the housing market was starting to plummet.” according to the Wall Street Journal. Sounds like chump change to me, a mere smack on the wrist for allegedly participating in the biggest fleecing of America ever. Of course their settlement does not admit any liability (like all settlements it seems).
Notable Enforcement Cases In the matter of Watt Carmichael Inc. In December 2009, the OSC sanctioned Watt Carmichael Inc. and three of its senior officers, Roger D. Rowan, Harry J. Carmichael, and G. Michael McKenney, relating to discretionary trading in the securities of Biovail Corporation by Mr. Rowan, who was also a director of Biovail. In an earlier decision dealing with the merits of the case, the OSC had found that Mr. Rowan failed to file insider trading reports with respect to trades he executed in Biovail securities that were held in client trust accounts, that he failed to disclose to Biovail the number of Biovail securities held in the trust accounts over which he exercised control or direction, and that he traded in Biovail securities in the trust accounts during Biovail’s blackout periods. The Commission had also found that Watt Carmichael Inc., Mr. Carmichael and Mr. McKenney failed to adequately supervise Rowan’s trading. The decision is under appeal by the respondents.
This case included a constitutional challenge, as the respondents argued that the administrative penalty provisions under the Securities Act (Ontario) infringed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Commission dismissed the challenge.