Mass. Fines Citigroup For Facebook Disclosure
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (CGMI), the brokerage and securities arm of banking giant Citigroup Inc., has been fined $2 million by Massachusetts regulators for failure to supervise research analysts who improperly disclosed confidential information about Facebook's initial public stock offering last spring, Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office said.
The Secretary of State Securities Division said its decision to fine the company stemmed from violations of applicable securities laws and related rules.
It said that a senior analyst at CGMI did not properly supervise a junior analyst, who disclosed non-public information related to Facebook's imminent IPO in April.
The disclosure was made in an e-mail to two employees at TechCrunch.com, which runs a leading blog in the world of breaking tech news, according to Galvin's office.
Through e-mails uncovered in a subpoena from Galvin in September, and the junior analyst was fired as a result, Galvin's office said. The Securities Division also found that the senior analyst had released unpublished information about YouTube revenue estimates to a reporter for a French business magazine in April.
CGMI admitted to the Securities Division's statement of facts, according to Galvin's office, and agreed to cease and desist from violation the state securities law.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments