Ex-Citigroup Executive to Settle SEC Charges

BANKING

A former senior executive of Citigroup Inc. has agreed to pay about $2.7 million to settle insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Victor Menezes sold about $29 million in Citigroup stock in March 2002, a few weeks before the banking giant reported a substantial charge against its books, according to the SEC. The agency alleged in a civil lawsuit that by virtue of his position as chief of the emerging markets division, Menezes knew in advance that Citigroup planned to report first-quarter losses of hundreds of millions of dollars from its operations in Argentina.

Menezes also was aware that Citigroup would miss Wall Street analysts’ earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2002, the SEC said in its suit filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Menezes neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing under the settlement, which calls for him to pay about $1.6 million in restitution plus interest and a civil fine of $783,778.