Morgan Stanley Settles Best Execution Charges

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled fraud charges against Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated (Morgan Stanley) for its failure to provide best execution to certain retail orders for over-the-counter (OTC) securities. In particular, Morgan Stanley embedded undisclosed mark-ups and mark-downs on certain retail OTC orders processed by its automated market-making system and delayed the execution of other retail OTC orders, for which Morgan Stanley had an obligation to execute without hesitation. Morgan Stanley will pay $7,957,200 in disgorgement and penalties to settle the Commission's charges. All of Morgan Stanley's revenue from its undisclosed mark-ups and mark-downs will be distributed back to the injured investors through a distribution plan.
From Oct. 24, 2001, through Dec. 8, 2004, Morgan Stanley, a registered broker-dealer, failed to seek to obtain best execution for certain orders for OTC securities placed by retail customers of Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. and third party broker-dealers that routed orders to Morgan Stanley for execution. As a result of this conduct, Morgan Stanley breached its duty of best execution with respect to these retail customers' orders.