A.G. Edwards Admits Illegal Trading Was Rampant

A.G. Edwards' tussle with regulators is getting more intense. According to a letter submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission by Douglas Kelly, A.G. Edwards' director of law and compliance, and released by William Galvin, Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth, illegal mutual fund trading activities were not confined to the company's Boston branch but were rampant.

Kelly said in his letter that five brokers and a wire operator made more than 1,000 suspicious trades in their personal accounts at the firm's Lake Forest, Ill., branch, for one, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.. Allegations of late trading were also brought against the company's St. Louis branch.

Kelly's letter, which was sent to the SEC last March and released earlier this month by Galvin, stated that 28 branches needed further investigation and that nine of those merited the "highest priority of detailed review." Two weeks ago, Galvin alleged that an A.G. Edwards branch in Boston permitted more than $4 billion in illegal trades.

While A.G. Edwards has said that 2,715 orders of more than $10,000 were transmitted by Lake Forest brokers after the markets closed, the company has also maintained that it will "vigorously" defend itself against the charges.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.

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