Jefferies' Fidelity Gift Outlays Topped $1.5M

Jefferies Group claims that former trader Kevin Quinn, who it hired specifically to bolster its Fidelity Investment trades, misused his $1.5 million annual travel and expense budget, earmarked specifically to win Fidelity business, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Quinn's attorney, meanwhile, points out that Quinn was merely following strict orders to reel in more Fidelity trades. In fact, WSJ notes, during Quinn's tenure, Jefferies vaulted from the nation's No. 20 brokerage firm to No. 15.

No matter what Quinn's original mandate may have been, what is beginning to emerge is a detailed and vivid picture of the deal-making and goings-on between the nation's No. 1 fund company and some of Wall Street's most powerful brokerage firms--raising the larger question of whether a "darker side" looms on these trading desks.

Even yesterday's Washington Post ran an article detailing Velcro "dwarf tossing" and a longstanding feud between Fidelity Chairman Ned Johnson and former SEC Chairman William Donaldson.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, NASD and other regulators are continuing their investigation into lavish gifts, hotel rooms, nearly half a million dollars' worth of private jets in a span of two years, the role of dwarf Danny Black and other scintillating perks bestowed on Fidelity traders, ostensibly to woo their business at the expense of best execution, at worst, or the waiver of sound judgment, at best.

__
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.