SEC Files First-Ever Actions Against Muni-Bond Underwriters -- Update
September 13 2022 - 10:18AM
Dow Jones News
By Dean Seal
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit
against Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and settled similar cases with
three other firms for allegedly failing to comply with disclosure
requirements for municipal-bond offerings.
The first-of-their-kind actions separately allege Oppenheimer,
BNY Mellon Capital Markets LLC, TD Securities (USA) LLC and
Jefferies LLC failed to meet the legal requirements that would
exempt them from obtaining disclosures for investors in certain
municipal-bond offerings.
The SEC said that at different times since 2017, the firms
purported to rely on the limited offering exemption to avoid making
certain disclosures, but did not take the steps necessary to obtain
that exemption.
Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, BNY Mellon
has agreed to pay a $300,000 fine and more than $650,000 in
disgorgement and interest, while TD Securities and Jefferies would
each pay a $100,000 fine and smaller disgorgement and interest
sums.
The SEC's suit against Oppenheimer is expected to be heard in a
Manhattan federal court.
A representative for Oppenheimer said Tuesday that the complaint
is seeking disgorgement of profits even though it is based on sales
to market professionals and no investors were harmed in the
transactions at issue.
"Oppenheimer believes it acted reasonably at all times and
intends to defend itself vigorously against these claims," the
representative said.
Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 13, 2022 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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