A federal judge in Brooklyn has “reluctantly” approved Securities and Exchange Commission settlements with Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, the two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers accused with fanfare of helping to usher in the great recession.
In a lively 19-page opinion handed down on June 18, Eastern District Judge Frederic Block (See Profile) agreed to sign consent judgments to resolve civil claims that the SEC brought in June 2008 against Cioffi and Tannin, who managed two Bear Stearns hedge funds that lost a combined $1.6 billion in 2007, triggering the famed investment bank’s collapse. The settlement, under which Cioffi and Tannin admit no wrongdoing, calls for them to pay $800,000 and $250,000, respectively, in disgorgement and penalties. Block previously called the disgorgements “chump change” when the deals were proposed in February.
