NASD & CSE fine, suspend traders

NASD and the Chicago Stock Exchange Holdings Inc. announced that they have fined and suspended two traders for allegedly artificially inflating a stock's price.

NASD and the Chicago Stock Exchange Holdings Inc. announced that they have fined and suspended two traders for allegedly artificially inflating a stock’s price.
First Analysis Securities Corp. trader Klaus Offenbacher and Bruce Kaminski, a floor broker with Chicago-based Dougall & Associates, were accused of pumping up the price of Material Science Corporation (MSC) stock price, in connection with the company’s repurchase of its stock.
The self-regulatory organization hit Mr. Offenbacher with a $25,000 fine and suspended him for three months.
He is receiving credit for a 60-day suspension already imposed by his Chicago-based firm.
Mr. Kaminski, a floor broker with Chicago-based Dougall & Associates of Chicago was fined $20,000 and suspended for two months.
Neither MSC, First Analysis Securities Corp. nor Dougall & Associates had knowledge that Mr. Offenbacher and Mr. Kaminski planned to artificially increase the price of MSC stock, NASD said in a statment.
In settling the matter, Mr. Offenbacher and Mr. Kamenski neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of NASD’s findings that their conduct violated NASD rules.