Defendant Name:
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
Defendant Type:
Subsidiary of Public Company
Public Company Parent:
Bank of America Corporation
SIC Code:
6021
CUSIP:
06050510
Document Reference:
2018-108
Document Details
Legal Case Name
In the Matter of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
Document Name
Merrill Lynch Admits to Misleading Customers about Trading Venues
Document Date
19-Jun-2018
Document Format
Administrative Proceeding
Allegation Type
Broker Dealer
Document Summary
On June 19, 2018, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings against Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, stating in a press release: "According to the SEC's order, Merrill Lynch falsely informed customers that it had executed millions of orders internally when it actually had routed them for execution at other broker-dealers, including proprietary trading firms and wholesale market makers. Merrill Lynch called this practice "masking." Masking entailed reprogramming Merrill Lynch's systems to falsely report execution venues, altering records and reports, and providing misleading responses to customer inquiries. By masking the broker-dealers who had executed customers' orders, Merrill Lynch made itself appear to be a more active trading center and reduced access fees it typically paid to exchanges."
Disgorgement & Penalty Information
Monetary Penalties:
Civil Penalty
Individual:
$42,000,000.00
Shared: