Kidder Peabody Co Inc

General Electric Co. stockholders will accept $19 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that faulted Joseph Jett, a top bond trader for GE's former Kidder, Peabody & Co. unit, for inflating Kidder's net worth and deceiving shareholders about the value of GE stock, according to a settlement filed Wednesday. Government regulators have called Jett's fraud one of the largest in the history of the securities industry.

General Electric Co. stockholders will accept $19 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that faulted Joseph Jett, a top bond trader for GE's former Kidder, Peabody & Co. unit, for inflating Kidder's net worth and deceiving shareholders about the value of GE stock, according to a settlement filed Wednesday. Government regulators have called Jett's fraud one of the largest in the history of the securities industry.

Kidder, Peabody & Co., a prestigious Wall Street firm hurt by the insider trading scandal, said Friday that it will lay off 1,000 people and cut expenses by 20% to save $100 million annually. The announcement marked the latest move by a major brokerage to restructure, consolidate and reduce costs since the October market collapse. It came on the same day that the president of Prudential-Bache Securities said his firm would slow its expansion and one day after E. F.

Joseph Jett, a former Kidder, Peabody & Co. bond trader accused of creating $350 million in phantom trading profits, was ordered by an administrative law judge to repay $8.21 million in bonuses and pay a $200,000 fine. The decision by a Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judge, issued more than two years after a hearing in the high-profile case, found Jett liable only in connection with "books and records" violations.

A criminal insider trading investigation that shook Wall Street in 1987 with the highly publicized arrests of three senior traders ended Thursday with the announcement that one of the men will plead guilty to a single felony count. No charges will be filed against the other two. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan said that Robert M. Freeman, the former head of arbitrage at the investment firm Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Fired Trader Sues Kidder Peabody: A former Kidder Peabody bond trader fired for allegedly faking $350 million in profits filed a $50-million libel lawsuit against the firm and its former owner. Joseph Jett, 37, accused Kidder and General Electric Co. of a "continuing campaign and conspiracy" of libel and slander.

General Electric Co., ridding itself of a troublesome and embarrassing division, formally agreed Monday to sell Kidder, Peabody & Co. to rival brokerage house PaineWebber Group for stock valued at $670 million. Under the agreement, which had been rumored for days, GE would receive PaineWebber common and preferred stock that would would give the company a 25% stake in PaineWebber. GE would also get one seat on PaineWebber's board of directors.

Kidder, Peabody & Co. won dismissal of an age discrimination lawsuit the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed against the now-defunct securities firm. If the ruling is upheld on appeal, it would weaken the federal government's ability to police Wall Street's compliance with discrimination laws by barring the EEOC from seeking monetary damages on behalf of employees who sign arbitration agreements, the EEOC said.

Prosecutor Seeks Huge Fines Against Jett: The fines sought against Joseph Jett, the former Kidder Peabody & Co. bond trader accused of a massive scheme to falsify profits, could total hundreds of millions of dollars.

Federal regulators are ready to file civil charges against former Kidder Peabody bond trader Joseph Jett and two of his former bosses in connection with the firm's 1994 bond trading scandal, sources said Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission could file an administrative case today against Jett, Edward Cerullo and Melvin Mullin, according to the sources, who requested anonymity. The Northeast storm delayed the filing Monday.