Ex-Prudential official, SEC settle allegations with fine

July 31, 2007

A former senior executive with Prudential Securities is paying $100,000 to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he failed to supervise registered advisers who the SEC says allowed favored clients to make improper "market timing" mutual fund trades. In the settlement, Michael J. Rice, a former president of retail brokerage at Prudential Securities, agreed to the monetary penalty and a one-year suspension from supervising broker dealers or investment advisers. Rice did not admit or deny wrongdoing. (Dow Jones/AP)

Medtronic Inc., the largest maker of electronic heart devices, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. said they plan to develop an implantable device to administer a drug that could potentially silence disease-causing genes. A Medtronic pump will deliver Cambridge-based Alnylam's treatments being developed using RNA interference, or RNAi, the companies said. The product will treat Huntington's, a genetic disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain. (Bloomberg)

IBM Corp. said it would lay off 90 workers at an Essex Junction, Vt., plant as part of a plan to eliminate 450 jobs, mostly at its East Fishkill, N.Y., and Poughkeepsie, N.Y., facilities. The company, which has 5,700 workers in Essex Junction, is reorganizing its manufacturing and development within the Systems and Technology Group, said Glen Thomas, an IBM spokesman. The job cuts were in semiconductor manufacturing and support functions such as packing and testing. (AP)

Independent Bank Corp. signed an agreement to buy assets of O'Connell Investment Services, of Lincoln, R.I. The Rockland, Mass., bank holding company said some O'Connell employees will become Rockland Trust employees following the transaction. Independent said only a portion of the cost will be paid up front, with the majority paid over a multiyear earn-out period. (Dow Jones)

They're coming off two lackluster seasons in a row, but Vermont's winter resorts continue to pour millions of dollars into improvements designed to lure more skiers and snowboarders. At Mount Snow in Wilmington, $3.5 million out of $5.5 million in improvements will be focused on snowmaking. Mad River Glen, a small, nonprofit ski area, has raised more than $1.2 million in charitable contributions, in partnership with the Preservation Trust of Vermont and the Stark Mountain Foundation, toward the $1.54 million cost of rehabilitating a single-chair lift. Magic Mountain, Sugarbush, and Okemo are among other resorts making improvements to snowmaking, while Stowe Mountain Resort is upgrading an 18-hole golf course, 21,000-square-foot spa, and a 139-room hotel. (AP)

THE NATION

The number of US homes facing foreclosure surged 58 percent in the first six months of the year, the latest sign of mounting problems in the mortgage industry, a data firm said. In all, 573,397 properties nationwide reported some sort of foreclosure activity in the first half of this year, including receiving notices of default, auction sale notices, or being repossessed by lenders, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said. That was 58 percent higher than the 363,672 properties in the first six months of 2006 and 32 percent higher than the 433,504 in the last six months of 2006. (AP)

The Cleveland Cavaliers filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster Inc. in federal court, accusing the broker of anticompetitive and monopolistic practices. The Cavaliers allege Ticketmaster is trying to prevent the team's Flash Seats secondary-ticketing website from competing with the ticketing giant. Flash Seats provides season ticket holders a way to sell and transfer seats electronically -- a system that is superior to Ticketmaster's TeamExchange program, the lawsuit says. Ticketmaster sued the Cavaliers and Flash Seats this month in US District Court in California asking the court to rule that it has exclusive rights to handle all the team's ticket sales. Ticketmaster, a unit of New York-based IAC/InterActiveCorp., is the largest ticket broker in the world. A phone message was not immediately returned. (AP)