Thursday, March 06, 2008

Fidelity Fined in SEC Probe of Private Jets, Escorts, Ecstasy.

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Fidelity Investments Vice Chairman Peter Lynch, former head trader Scott DeSano and 11 employees accepted more than $1.6 million worth of gifts from brokers jockeying to trade for the world's largest mutual-fund company, U.S. regulators said.

Fidelity will pay $8 million to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims, the agency said yesterday in a statement. The brokers' inducements included a $160,000 junket to Miami, where bachelor party attendees were entertained by female escorts and supplied with ecstasy pills, the SEC said.

The settlement concludes a three-year probe that tainted the Boston-based money manager, known for policies aimed at protecting fund investors. The company failed to seek the best terms when trading for the funds because employees routed the transactions to brokers who doled out Super Bowl tickets and private-jet trips to Mexico, the SEC said.

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