The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t have to pay for what a judge called the "bacchanalian adventure" of two executives after agreeing to cover their travel costs to be questioned in a lawsuit.
The regulator’s obligation to pick up the tab for taking depositions of the two men, principals of a defunct Panamanian broker-dealer firm, Verdmont Capital SA, doesn’t extend to “exquisite" expenses like first-class flights from Panama City to London, a five-star hotel, a $1,000 bar tab and a two-day side trip to Madrid, U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan said in a ruling Thursday.
