A US judge has ordered relatives of Hazem al Braikan and two Kuwaiti companies to pay about US$6.4 million (Dh23.5m) in restitution and fines to settle a stock market manipulation case that took a morbid turn after al Braikan died in an apparent suicide last year.
The settlement of the charges against al Braikan and the other Kuwaiti companies, which have said they merely acted at Mr al Braikan's behest, brings to a close a sad chapter in the frenetic financial history of the Gulf, where many markets are loosely regulated and talk of insider trading and rumour-mongering is rampant.
Judge Naomi Buchwald approved a settlement reached in August between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and al Braikan's estate, Al Raya Investment Company and Kipco Asset Management Company (KAMCO). This month the judge cancelled a freeze placed on KAMCO's assets after it paid its share of the judgment, about $2.4m. Al Raya has paid $1.5m, but al Braikan's estate sought and received in August a two-month extension on payment of the $2.5m that was owed.
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