Merrill Lynch and Harvest Volatility Management have agreed to pay more than $9m to settle allegations that they pushed clients’ investments in an options strategy past their stated limits, saddling them with hefty fees and substantial trading losses in the process.
The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that around summer 2011, Merrill (a unit of Bank of America) approved Harvest’s options trading strategy for certain ultra-high-net-worth clients.
