$600,000 Knicks Seats Among Perks That Triggered Fine for BGC
$600,000 Knicks Seats Among Perks That Triggered Fine for BGC
(Bloomberg) -- BGC Partners Inc.’s Richard Anthony is a diehard Knicks fan who has long had courtside seats for a basketball team that’s known for annoying New Yorkers with its struggles. Now his fandom is contributing to irritations at Wall Street’s top regulator.
A BGC brokerage unit was fined $1.25 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday over allegations that included failing to appropriately report sports tickets and travel expenses as compensation.
The perks included one broker receiving $600,000 a year in free athletic tickets and $100,000 for an international birthday celebration, according to the SEC. Another broker got $25,000 for two trips to Las Vegas, $11,000 for his bachelor party in New Orleans and four years of food and beverages paid for during weekend getaways to the Hamptons.
The SEC’s order didn’t name the recipients. The broker who received the sports tickets and international trip is Anthony, who oversees equity derivatives at BGC, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified.
No Wrongdoing
Anthony, identified as Broker A by the SEC, has four courtside tickets to the Knicks that cost $3,600 per seat per game, he said in an interview with Bloomberg News in 2013. He was given the tickets as part of his employment contract, according to the SEC, and the agency didn’t allege that he did anything wrong or misled his bosses at BGC.
Anthony declined to comment as did his attorney. Karen Laureano-Rikardsen, a BGC spokeswoman, also declined to comment.
BGC was fined because it improperly recorded the expenses as travel and entertainment in its general ledger, when they should have been filed under employee pay, according to the SEC. In settling the case, the firm didn’t admit or deny the regulator’s allegations.
“The federal securities laws require broker-dealers to maintain accurate books and records,” Marc Berger, director of the SEC’s New York office, said in a Tuesday statement.
$12,600 Party
The other broker is identified as Broker B. According to the SEC, he was also reimbursed $12,600 for a birthday party. At least eight friends were there, three of whom were also BGC customers. He clearly identified it on his expense report as "[Broker B] Birthday." The SEC says he did lie on his expenses about the trips to Vegas, claiming customers came who didn’t. Bloomberg couldn’t identify the other broker.
The SEC also said that one of BGC’s expense administrators stole at least $1.3 million from the firm by using another employee’s corporate card.
BGC, based in New York, is part-owned by Cantor Fitzgerald LP and both brokerage firms are run by Howard Lutnick.
To contact the reporters on this story: Zeke Faux in New York at zfaux@bloomberg.net;Matt Robinson in New York at mrobinson55@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jesse Westbrook at jwestbrook1@bloomberg.net, Gregory Mott
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