P.M. BRIEFING : Pickens to Pay Stock Settlement

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that maverick oilman T. Boone Pickens and his Mesa Limited Partnership agreed to pay a $2.3-million settlement in the sale of a gold mining stock.

The agreement requires Mesa “to disgorge $2.3 million in profits obtained as a result of conduct as alleged in the complaint” to pay claims by Homestake Mining Co. shareholders.

The agency’s complaint stems from an announcement by Pickens and Mesa on Feb. 29, 1988, offering to purchase the gold mining company “in a negotiated transaction,” the SEC said. That announcement caused Homestake’s stock price to surge by nearly $4 a share, the agency said.

But over the next two weeks, Pickens and Mesa sold more than 3 million shares of Homestake stock without disclosing their intent to sell a substantial portion of Mesa’s holdings of Homestake common stock.