SEC muscles up; lawyers, execs pay heed

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2004 | by Greg Farrell

NEW YORK-- Stonewalling a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation is no longer a winning strategy for executives.

Following Martha Stewart's conviction last week for making false statements to the SEC, Banc of America Securities agreed Wednesday to pay a $10 million fine for repeatedly failing to provide prompt cooperation with a continuing SEC investigation into its securities trading.

The events signify to defense lawyers that trying to sandbag an SEC investigation -- a practice that flourished in the 1990s -- is riskier.

One of the biggest fears of defense lawyers who specialize in representing executives caught in the sights of SEC investigators is that their clients won't level with them. Stewart's conviction last week on four counts of making...