SECURITIES

Kidder, Peabody & Co. Sends Checks to Ex-Trader: The brokerage has written checks for $138,000 to Joseph Jett, in a move that may allow the General Electric Co. brokerage unit avoid expedited hearings on Jett’s compensation claims. State Supreme Court Justice Martin Stecher said on May 15 that he would order expedited arbitration by a National Assn. of Securities Dealers panel on Jett’s claim for $4.9 million from his brokerage account unless Kidder paid the $138,000 in bonus and deferred compensation. Kidder fired Jett and froze his accounts after it accused him of creating $350 million in inflated pretax profits through “phantom” trades of U.S. Treasury zero-coupon bonds. John Liftin, Kidder’s general counsel, said if Jett accepts the checks, “(the case) goes to arbitration on the merits.” Last month, Stecher ruled in favor of Jett’s request that arbitration hearings take place under the auspices of the NASD, rather than the New York Stock Exchange, as Kidder wanted.