As part of the 2003 global research settlement, the involved firms were required to pay $432.5 million to fund independent research, and seven firms were separately required to pay $80 million for investor education, including $52.5 million for an Investor Education Fund and $27.5 million for state securities regulators.
Notes on verification
Confirmed directly by SEC litigation release and multiple SEC press releases, plus NASAA and FINRA corroboration; minor discrepancy in firm count (six vs seven) for one sub-component but overall figures consistently verified.
Sources
- Federal Court Approves Global Research Analyst Settlement (sec.gov)
- https://www.nasaa.org/7992/ten-of-nations-top-investment-firms-settle-enforcement-actions-involving-conflicts-of-interest-between-research-and-investment-banking/ (nasaa.org)
- https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/guidance/reports/2003-global-settlement (finra.org)
- https://fcic-static.law.stanford.edu/cdn_media/fcic-docs/2003-05-07%20William%20H.%20Donaldson%20Testimony%20Concerning%20Global%20Research%20Analyst%20Settlement.pdf (fcic-static.law.stanford.edu)