Edward Jones to Pay $20 Million Due to Muni-Bond Overcharges
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Edward Jones & Co. will pay $20 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that the St. Louis-based brokerage and its former head of municipal underwriting overcharged customers in new bond sales.
In its first case against a muni-bond underwriter for pricing-related fraud in the primary market, the SEC accused Edward Jones and Stina R. Wishman of improperly offering securities to customers at higher prices after taking them into its own inventory. Investors paid at least $4.6 million more than they should have, the SEC said in a statement Thursday.