NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The primary private-sector regulator of the U.S. securities industry has fined New York's Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC in a conflict-of-interest case.
The NASD is fining the company $350,000 and high-profile research analyst Charles B. Hintz $200,000 for having favorable ratings on Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers securities while Hintz was unloading his personal shares of Lehman.
The fines represent the largest NASD has imposed for violations of its new research analyst conflict-of-interest rules, which were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 10, 2002, and took effect on July 9, 2002.
Sanford Bernstein and Hintz neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of NASD's findings.
