SEC Slaps Eight Wrists

WASHINGTON (CN) - Two years after Morgan Keegan & Co. paid $200 million to settle SEC charges involving subprime mortgage-backed securities, the SEC told eight former directors not to do it again.

The eight directors did not have to admit anything except jurisdiction. The SEC order contains no penalties for them, except that they must agree not to do it again, though they may claim that what they did the first time wasn't illegal.

The SEC said in a statement Thursday announcing the cease and desist order: "The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a settlement in an enforcement proceeding against eight former directors of five Regions Morgan Keegan open- and closed-end funds that were heavily invested in securities backed by subprime mortgages. The proceeding, which began in December 2012, alleged that the directors failed to satisfy their pricing responsibilities under the federal securities laws."

The eight are J. Kenneth Alderman of Birmingham, Ala.; Jack R. Blair of Germantown, Tenn.; Albert C. Johnson of Hoover, Ala.; James Stillman R. McFadden of Germantown; Allen B. Morgan Jr. of Memphis; W. Randall Pittman of Birmingham;

Mary S. Stone of Birmingham; and Archie W. Willis III of Memphis.

The SEC added, in no uncertain terms: "The directors are also ordered to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of that rule. The directors consented to the entry of the settled order without admitting or denying any of the findings, except as to jurisdiction."

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