Philip Falcone And Harbinger Capital Admit Wrongdoing, Will Pay $18M In SEC Settlement

Hedge fund adviser Philip A. Falcone and his firm Harbinger Capital Partners agreed to pay $18 million in a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that entailed admitting wrong doing.

The New York financier will be banned from working in the securities agency for at least five years, the SEC said in a press release.

More than a year ago, the SEC accused Falcone of using $113.2 million in fund assets to pay his personal taxes and secretly favored certain customers at the expense of other investors.

“Falcone and Harbinger engaged in serious misconduct that harmed investors, and their admissions leave no doubt that they violated the federal securities laws,” Andrew Ceresney, co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a statement. “Falcone must now pay a heavy price for his misconduct by surrendering millions of dollars and being barred from the hedge fund industry.”

The settlement now awaits the approval of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Harbinger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company was previously accused, in 2010, of illegally swapping stock between his hedge fund and a small publicly traded company he controls.