Bank One Settles With SEC, NY for $90 Million

July 01, 2004, 1:00 a.m. EDT 1 Min Read

Bank One Corp. is looking for closure on charges filed by securities regulators that it facilitated improper mutual fund trades for a number of hedge funds by paying a $90 million settlement.
The fine marks the Securities and Exchange Commission's 10 ^th multi-million dollar settlement with a mutual fund provider charged with market timing and other types of improper activities.

As part of the settlement, Bank One's investment advisor unit has agreed to pay a $40 million fine and repay $10 million of earnings derived from improper activities. The SEC is also fining One Group Mutual Funds Chief Executive Mark Beeson a $100,000 penalty and banning him from the securities industry for two years. SEC officials noted that Beeson violated securities laws by permitting Edward Stern, a hedge fund manager with Canary Capital, to rob long-term mutual fund investors of profits by executing a lengthy series of rapid-fire trades over an extended period of time.

In coordination with the New York Attorney Generals office, the settlement also calls for Bank One's mutual fund arm drop its fees by $40 million during the next five years. Bank One struck the deal Tuesday, two days before J.P. Morgan Chase was scheduled to finalize its $58 billion acquisition of the bank, creating the second-largest bank in the country after Citigroup.