“Securities regulators, in the first of an expected wave of new cases against Wall Street firms, fined the former Robertson Stephens securities unit of FleetBoston Financial Corp. and charged one of its former analysts with alleged misconduct during the stock-market bubble,” wrties Randall Smith in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“The National Association of Securities Dealers and the Securities and Exchange Commission levied penalties totaling $33 million against Robertson, a former San Francisco tech-stock firm. This included $28 million for improperly sharing customers’ profits on hot initial public offerings, and $5 million for distributing allegedly fraudulent stock research that didn’t disclose the analyst’s conflicts of interest. FleetBoston Financial agreed to pay the fines without admitting or denying wrongdoing.”

“The SEC also said one of the firm’s former tech-stock analysts, Paul E. Johnson, violated civil antifraud rules for recommending stocks of two companies in the middle of acquisitions, without disclosing that he owned stakes in the companies being acquired that would generate windfalls to him of nearly $7 million.”

“Although Mr. Johnson’s lawyers said the analyst’s actions didn’t violate any rules in effect at the time, the SEC argued the magnitude of his gains, on initial investments of $50,000 and $75,000 in the two separate deals, should have been disclosed.”

“The case against Robertson Stephens comes in addition to the broader regulatory settlement reached last month by 10 other firms. Even though a financial deal was reached, all 10 firms and some of their employees are expected to be charged with specific violations over the next several months.”

“Under that agreement, the firms agreed to pay more than $1.4 billion, including $900 million in penalties and $535 million for independent research and investor education, in an effort to reform research and IPO-allocation abuses. NASD enforcement chief Barry Goldsmith said even though Robertson Stephens wasn’t part of that deal, the firm’s alleged violations occurred in ‘the same period of time, and the abuses that sort of grew out of that.’ “

“FleetBoston decided to shut down the Robertson firm last year after efforts to sell it were hampered, in part, by its potential liabilities in the probes. FleetBoston, the seventh-largest U.S. banking company, said the penalties won’t affect current financial results because it set aside enough money when it took a $435 million charge for the firm’s shutdown last year. The Boston-based company cooperated with regulators, a spokesman said, adding, ‘We are pleased to get this matter behind us.’ “

“In a complaint filed in federal court in New York, the SEC accused Mr. Johnson, 42 years old, of praising high-tech acquisitions by Redback Networks Inc. and Sycamore Networks Inc. and recommending their stocks without disclosing that the deals would result in big windfalls for him. The agency also charged Mr. Johnson with material omissions in publicly praising another stock while privately telling Robertson executives overseeing an investment partnership that the shares were worth only half their current trading price. The agency asked Mr. Johnson to disgorge profits and pay unspecified penalties.”