The settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and General Electric, the industrial and financial group, suggests a new willingness by the regulator to act more aggressively in cases involving big companies.
The allegations of accounting fraud against GE – which agreed to pay a $50m penalty without admitting or denying any wrongdoing – came just a day after the SEC accused Bank of America of making “materially false and misleading claims” to shareholders about bonuses that were paid by Merrill Lynch at the time of its acquisition by BofA.
BofA, which neither admitted nor denied the allegations by the SEC, agreed to pay $33m to settle with the SEC.