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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (10633)	10/29/2002 9:46:17 AM
From: Clase Azul	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 19428

nope n/a

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (10633)	10/29/2002 3:27:08 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Firm fined for 'creative' research on Neurocrine By Penni Crabtree UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER October 29, 2002 A securities research firm whose employee posed as a clinical trial patient in order to obtain confidential information about a San Diego biotechnology company has been fined and three of its analysts suspended. The punitive action taken yesterday by the National Association of Securities Dealers against Sterling Financial Investment Group closes a bizarre chapter for Neurocrine Biosciences, a local biotech that is testing a treatment for insomnia in late-stage clinical trials. The move also underscores a broader effort by regulators to crack down on analyst and insider trading abuses that have shaken investor confidence in Wall Street. "Ingenuity and creative research doesn't entitle analysts to misuse confidential information or to misrepresent who they are," said Nancy Condon, a spokeswoman for NASD. "It is essential that analysts behave scrupulously in all aspects of their work, including dealings they have with public companies." Neurocrine declined to comment. The case is believed to be the first involving analysts who used confidential information gathered during a drug trial, Condon said. The scheme involved two brothers, David and Doug Risk, who worked for Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sterling as research analysts, and their efforts to get inside information that would later be used in a negative research report on Neurocrine. Sterling has a following among short-sellers, investors who borrow stock and sell it, betting that the price will fall before they have to buy the stock back to replace it. During 2001, Sterling issued "sell" recommendations on 60 percent of the companies it covers. According to the NASD investigation, David Risk made an appointment on Feb. 15 at a Florida clinic that was performing late-stage clinical trials of a medication developed by Neurocrine, a company whose stock was trading at the time for about $37 a share. On the day of the appointment, David Risk sent his brother, who was then acting as his assistant, to the clinic with instructions to represent himself as David. Doug Risk signed the name of his brother on documents and completed a physical exam posing as David Risk. As part of the process, Doug Risk also signed a confidentiality agreement requiring him not to divulge treatment information concerning any patients. Though Risk never received treatment at the clinic, he obtained information "from a questionable source with no personal knowledge of the events" about a patient who allegedly could not be roused after taking the experimental drug, according to NASD. Despite the confidentiality agreement, Doug Risk passed the information on to his brother, who on Feb. 20 issued a negative report on Neurocrine based in part on what later proved to be erroneous information about the drug's alleged side effects. David Risk's research report on Neurocrine also contained other material that was "inaccurate or misleading," and Risk did not try to verify the accuracy of the information, according to NASD. Jeff Mustard, a spokesman for Sterling, said the Risk brothers were terminated two weeks ago, after the company had earlier suspended them. "The Risks exercised very bad judgment – two guys that just did their own thing – and as a result our firm was dragged into a problem," said Mustard. "The problem is now solved. The Risks have been terminated." It's uncertain whether the Risks' report on Neurocrine, which recommended on Feb. 20 that investors sell the stock, ultimately had much impact. The stock rose more or less steadily for two months after the report's release, reaching $43 a share by mid-April. The stock later declined to a low of $24 in July, falling with the rest of the market, but has since recovered. Shares of Neurocrine closed yesterday at $42.56, up 84 cents. As part of the NASD action, Sterling has been fined $40,000 and ordered to hire a consultant to review the firm's policies concerning its research department. The head of the firm's research department, Steven Kirsch, was suspended by the NASD from the securities industry for a month and fined $10,000. David Risk was suspended by NASD for eight months and fined $35,000, while Doug Risk was suspended for five months and fined $5,000.

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (10633)	10/29/2002 8:26:47 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

CSFB Fires 20% of Bankers; Bear Stearns Cuts Equity Sales Staff By Tom Cahill New York, Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse First Boston fired about 400 investment bankers while Bear Stearns Cos. fired as many as 50 equity salespeople and traders, according to people familiar with the situation. Credit Suisse's cuts come after Chief Executive John Mack warned earlier this month he would eliminate as many as 1,750 jobs, or cut 7 percent of its workforce of 25,000. Bear Stearns, the No. 6 U.S. firm by capital and the only firm to report quarterly earnings gains every quarter this year, hasn't cut as deeply as rivals because it hadn't grown as much during the telecommunications and underwriting boom in the 1990s. ``Every firm on Wall Street is cutting into muscle, not fat, at this point,'' said Jeff Bell, co-head of the investment banking practice at Spencer Stuart, a recruiting firm in New York. The firings, three months before bonuses are to be paid, are the latest wave of job cuts that have totaled more than 54,000 since May 2001. Securities firms face their biggest drop in revenue in five years, as a 30 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has depressed demand for stock and bond underwriting and advice on mergers. While Credit Suisse ranks second in mergers advising this year, the total value of transactions worldwide is $144 billion compared with $331 billion in the same period last year. U.S. initial public offerings have fallen 32 percent to $19 billion so far this year from $28 billion by this time in 2001 and less than a third of the $63 billion in all of 2000, according to Bloomberg data. Fifth Round The job cuts this year total 7.8 percent of the industry, or the largest cuts in that short a period since 1974. Securities firms cut a total of 8.5 percent of jobs in 1987 through 1990. Credit Suisse's cuts total about 20 percent of its bankers, and are the fifth round of firings since the firm paid $13.4 billion for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. in November 2000, the people said. The firm's investment banking department now numbers about 1,800, down from about 4,500 after the purchase. Some of those losing jobs in this round aren't getting pro-rated bonuses, the people said. Bonuses can account for as much as three-quarters of annual compensation in good years. Credit Suisse last week fired about 100 people in its research department, including chief market strategist Tom Galvin. The cuts are deepest among the Palo Alto-based technology team headed by Frank Quattrone, the people said. Oswald Gruebel, who later this year will become co-chief executive officer of Credit Suisse Group with Mack, sent a message to managers to pay for their own flowers and keep the cost of Christmas dinner down to 100 Swiss francs ($67) per person. Victoria Harmon, a Credit Suisse spokeswoman, and Russell Sherman, a spokesman for Bear Stearns, didn't return calls.