SECURITIES

Brokerage to Pay Nearly $12 Million: Gruntal & Co. agreed to pay that amount in civil fines and restitution to settle charges involving a decade-long embezzlement of $14 million involving four senior managers. The settlement covers several alleged violations, including illegal diversion of funds from customer accounts, checks from customers and vendors and opening of fictitious customer accounts for the funds. Books and records were falsified, affecting the firm’s reported financial results, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to court records, the scheme unraveled when Gruntal’s former head cashier, Waseem Ahmad, died in October 1994. Gruntal agreed to settle by paying $6.2 million in fines and another $5.5 million in restitution to affected customers. The New York-based firm, with 840 brokers and $2.4 billion in assets, did not admit or deny wrongdoing.