SEC cites securities firm over donations to Cahill

Southwest Securities Inc. of Dallas agreed to pay $470,000 to settle allegations against the firm, but charges remained outstanding against a senior vice president, John F. Kendrick of Medfield, the SEC said. Federal regulators did not allege any wrongdoing by Cahill or his office.

Kendrick contributed $1,625 to Cahill with seven checks written between 2003 and 2008, according to the SEC. On two occasions, those checks allegedly exceeded a contribution ceiling of $250 per election cycle and triggered rules banning Southwest from Massachusetts municipal securities business for two years.

Southwest acted as a comanager on 19 municipal securities offerings worth a total of $14 billion during the banned periods, regulators said.

Kendrick, 65, also allegedly organized a fund-raiser for Cahill that contributed $9,000 to the treasurer’s campaign in 2005. The SEC said the fund-raiser violated rules because Southwest was soliciting underwriting business from the state at the time.

Amy Birmingham, chief of staff for Cahill’s gubernatorial campaign, said in a statement late yesterday that Cahill’s political team “had no knowledge that John Kendrick was in violation of SEC rules at the time of the contributions.’’

“The campaign will return any donations that are in violation of SEC regulations,’’ she said.

Attorneys representing Southwest and Kendrick did not return calls.

Cahill has been under fire recently, following news reports detailing how he has raised money for his political ambitions from people with business before the state treasurer’s office or from those with ties to firms with business interests before his office.

The Globe reported Sunday that Cahill had accepted more than 200 donations from employees of firms that handle real estate holdings of a Boston-based investment firm that has been allotted $500 million in state pension funds to manage since Cahill became treasurer.

Steven Syre is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at syre@globe.com.