U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 22766 / July 31, 2013

Securities and Exchange Commission v. David Lee, et al., Civil Action No. 08-cv-9961 (GBD) (S.D.N.Y.)

SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Edward O'connor

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that on July 30, 2013, the Honorable George B. Daniels of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment against defendant Edward O'Connor. The final judgment permanently bars O'Connor from service as an officer or director of a public company, orders him to pay disgorgement of $550,000 and a civil penalty of $150,000, and imposes permanent injunctions against future violations of the antifraud, corporate reporting, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws cited in the Commission's complaint.

In its Complaint, as amended, the Commission alleged that O'Connor, a former director and executive officer of publicly traded commodities brokerage firm Optionable, Inc., took part in a scheme to "u turn" pricing information from defendant David Lee, a natural gas options trader at Bank of Montreal ("BMO"), back to reviewers at BMO as if the information had been independently verified. As a result of this scheme, the Commission alleged, BMO's financial results for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2006 and for the first quarter of fiscal year 2007 were materially overstated. The Commission also alleged that O'Connor and another defendant made misrepresentations in Optionable's periodic reports about the firm's valuation services, among other things, and deceived the operator of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) through misrepresentations, in a stock purchase agreement, about the truthfulness of Optionable's SEC filings and its compliance with law. O'Connor consented to the entry of the final judgment without admitting or denying the Commission's allegations.

The litigation was handled by Joe Boryshansky, Jess Velona, and Daniel Walfish.

For further information, see Litigation Release No. 20811 (November 18, 2008).