Under the 2003 global research settlement, each of the involved firms was required for five years to contract with at least three independent research firms, with an independent consultant given final authority to procure that research.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by SEC's own fact sheet and multiple independent law firm analyses (Faegre Drinker, WilmerHale) that closely match the claim's specific terms regarding duration, minimum number of research firms, and the independent consultant's procurement authority. [tier=silver indep_score=0.812 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Federal Court Approves Global Research Analyst Settlement (seed:economics_and_business)
- https://www.faegredrinker.com/en/insights/publications/2003/6/the-global-settlement-of-research-conflicts-of-interestback-to-the-future-for-the-research-analyst (corroboration)
- https://fcic-static.law.stanford.edu/cdn_media/fcic-docs/2010-04-28%20SEC%20Fact%20Sheet%20on%20Global%20Analyst%20Research%20Settlements.pdf (corroboration)
- https://www.wilmerhale.com/-/media/a48b4e733205456b860fabaf066681db.pdf (corroboration)
- https://www.cooley.com/news/insight/2010/modifications-to-global-research-analyst-settlement (corroboration)