Washington, Feb 22: Wall Street major Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $80 million to resolve civil charges that it aided energy giant Enron in fraudulently overstating its earnings. Merrill Lynch is the first financial services firm to settle with regulators over the matter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission planned to charge, in effect, that Merrill Lynch improperly aided Enron in overstating its earnings in 1999 by working with Enron on two separate transactions as the year drew to a close
Merrill agreed to pay more than $100 million last year to settle allegations lodged by New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer that the firm's analysts issued tainted research guidance to investors.
At least one of its employees remains under scrutiny by Federal prosecutors in New York over his role in possible insider trading of ImClone Systems Inc. stock by Martha Stewart. Bureau Report