The bill has finally come due for major Wall Street investment firms. After years of misleading investors with biased research and stock ratings, the giants of the industry are reportedly facing fines totaling $1 billion.
The SEC, along with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office, the New York Stock Exchange, and the National Association of Securities Dealers, are in the process of informing each firm the amount it will have to pay to end the probes. These regulators have spent months investigating claims that analysts sometimes gave glowing reports on companies in order to lure their investment-banking business.
Merrill Lynch
Here are the approximate fine amounts, according to various published reports:
Citigroup
Credit Suisse First Boston
Lehman Brothers
Deutsche Bank
Bear Stearns
Goldman Sachs
J.P. Morgan Chase
UBS Warburg
Thomas Weisel Partners: $60 million
Morgan Stanley
Wall Street investment firms getting what they deserve: priceless.