On April 28, 2003, SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson announced a global analyst research settlement involving ten firms, with monetary relief totaling just short of $1.4 billion, including nearly $400 million in disgorgement and well over $400 million in civil penalties.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by SEC's own press release, FINRA, and NASAA joint statements, with figures matching exactly (487.5M penalties, 387.5M disgorgement, totaling ~1.4B). [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- Speech by SEC Chairman: Prepared for Delivery at SEC Press Conference Regarding Global Settlement (seed:economics_and_business)
- https://www.nasaa.org/7992/ten-of-nations-top-investment-firms-settle-enforcement-actions-involving-conflicts-of-interest-between-research-and-investment-banking/ (corroboration)
- https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/guidance/reports/2003-global-settlement (corroboration)