US regulators presented evidence that 12 of the largest securities firms pressured analysts to promote investment-banking clients, people familiar with the situation said.
Citigroup Inc, US Bancorp Piper Jaffray and Credit Suisse First Boston are among firms from which e-mail and other internal documents were cited at a meeting at the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday.
The findings increase the likelihood that major securities firms may face fines to head off charges that they misled investors.
When that might happen was clouded last night by the resignation of SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt.
"We hope we can conduct any transactions with firms even without a chairman," said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who more than a year ago began the investigations that were later joined by the SEC and other regulators. "We'll have to wait to see how this unfolds," he said in an interview.
Representatives of the SEC, NASD, New York Stock Exchange and regulatory agencies from about a dozen states shared the material among themselves as they sought to build their conflict-of-interest cases, the people said.
"The more smoking guns they have, the more bargaining chips they have," said James Angel, a Georgetown University finance professor and former visiting academic at the NASD. "It reflects on the basic credibility of the firms. The firms may want to settle quickly to keep this from dragging on any longer." SEC spokeswoman Christi Harlan declined to comment, as did Securities Industry Association spokeswoman Margaret Draper.
Spokeswomen for Citigroup, Piper Jaffray and CSFB also declined to comment.
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