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Money Management Executive

SEC’s Commish Favors Harsher Punishment for MFS Execs

February 10, 2004, 1:00 a.m. EST 1 Min Read

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s settlement with Massachusetts Financial Services did not punish the company’s two top executives harshly enough, according to a dissenting opinion by one of the commissioners, Cynthia Glassman.

Glassman, who was appointed to the post by President Bush, said that the punishments, a nine-month suspension from the mutual fund industry for MFS President Kevin Parke and six-month suspension for Chief Executive Officer John Ballen, along with the requirement for each to pay over $300,000 in fines and penalties, were too light.

"Given their respective positions, I believe that the terms of the settlements with Ballen and Parke were not strong enough," Glassman dissented in a statement posted on the SEC Web site.

MFS, a unit of Canada-based SunLife, settled last Thursday with the SEC for $225 million based on evidence of improper market timing in a number of its mutual funds.

Part of Parke’s and Ballen’s settlement was that they did not admit or deny any wrongdoing in the scandal.

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