96-5217. McDonald & Company Securities, Inc., et al.; Temporary Order  

  • [Federal Register Volume 61, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 6, 1996)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 8987-8989]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 96-5217]
    
    
    
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    SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
    [Rel. No. IC-21792; 812-10016]
    
    
    McDonald & Company Securities, Inc., et al.; Temporary Order
    
    February 29, 1996.
    Agency: Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'').
    
    ACTION: Temporary Order and Notice of Application for Permanent 
    Exemption under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the ``Act'').
    
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    APPLICANT: McDonald & Company Securities, Inc. (``McDonald'').
    
    RELEVANT ACT SECTIONS: Permanent order requested, and temporary order 
    issued, under section 9(c) granting an exemption from section 9(a).
    
    SUMMARY: McDonald has received a temporary order for sixty days, and 
    has requested a permanent order exemption it from the prohibitions of 
    section 9(a), solely with respect to its conviction on a misdemeanor 
    charge entered by the Common Pleas Court of Franklin County, Ohio, on 
    February 29, 1996. Pending the SEC's action on the request for the 
    permanent order, McDonald has requested an additional temporary order.
    
    FILING DATE: The application was filed on February 29, 1996.
    
    HEARING OR NOTIFICATION OF HEARING: An order granting the application 
    will be issued unless the SEC orders a hearing. Interested persons may 
    request a hearing by writing to the SEC's Secretary and serving 
    applicant with a copy of the request, personally or by mail. Hearing 
    requests should be received by the SEC by 5:30 p.m. on (30 days 
    following publication in the federal registrar] and should be 
    accompanied by proof of service on applicant, in the form of an 
    affidavit or, for lawyers, a certificate of service. Hearing requests 
    should state the nature of the writer's interest, the reasons for the 
    request, and the issues contested. Persons who wish to be notified of a 
    hearing may request notification by writing to the SEC's Secretary.
    
    ADDRESSES: Secretary, SEC, 450 5th Street NW., Washington, DC 20549. 
    Applicant, 800 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    Elaine M. Boggs, Staff Attorney, at (202) 942-0572, or Robert A 
    Robertson, 
    
    [[Page 8988]]
    Branch Chief, at (202) 942-0572, or Robert A. Robertson, Branch Chief, 
    at (202) 942-0564 (Division of Investment Management, Office of 
    Investment Company Regulation).
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following is a summary of the 
    application. The complete application may be obtained for a fee at the 
    SEC's Public Reference Branch.
    
    Applicants Representations
    
        1. McDonald is registered as a broker-dealer and an investment 
    adviser. McDonald serves as underwriter and, through its Gradison 
    Division, as investment adviser to four open-end series investment 
    companies (the ``Funds''). The Gradison Division is not organized as a 
    separate legal entity. The Funds consist of eight series with total 
    assets of approximately $2 billion and 60,000 shareholder accounts as 
    of December 31, 1995.
        2. On February 29, 1996, McDonald pled no contest to a fourth 
    degree misdemeanor charge under the laws of the state of Ohio in the 
    Common Pleas Court of Franklin County, Ohio, (Docket No. 96CF 02-1274) 
    and was fined $2,000 (the ``Conviction''). McDonald was found to have 
    violated section 101.71(c) of the Ohio Revised Code (``ORC'') by 
    failing to report its expenditures accurately to state legislators 
    during the period of May through August of 1993.
        3. Section 101.73 of the ORC requires a ``statement of 
    expenditures'' to be filed with the Ohio Joint Legislative Ethics 
    Committee by any employer of a legislative agent or the agent who makes 
    certain expenditures to the Ohio legislators or their staff. This 
    report must include the amount of the expenditures. Section 101.71(C) 
    provides that no person shall fail to file a statement required to be 
    filed pursuant to section 101.73. Section 101.99 of the ORC states that 
    failure to satisfy this duty is a fourth degree misdemeanor.
        4. McDonald was found to have failed to report its expenditures 
    accurately as required pursuant to section 101.73. The expenditures in 
    question totaled $9,540. All but $40 of these expenditures represented 
    payments of honoraria to legislators for agreeing to attend a McDonald 
    sponsored seminar on two successive days. Payments of honoraria were 
    legally permissible under Ohio law at that time. The seminar at issue 
    was attended only by McDonald employees and government affairs 
    consultants acting as McDonald agents. The purpose of the seminar was 
    to educate McDonald employees on current matters pending before the 
    Ohio General Assembly. No specific legislation materially affecting 
    McDonald was discussed at the seminar.
    
    Applicant's Legal Analysis
    
        1. Section 9(a) of the Act disqualifies, among others, any person 
    or company from serving or acting in the capacity of investment adviser 
    or principal underwriter for any registered open-end company, if such 
    person, or an affiliated person of such person, within ten years has 
    been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor involving the purchase or 
    sale of any security or arising out of such person's conduct as, among 
    other things, an underwriter, a broker, or a dealer.
        2. If the conduct that led to the Conviction is deemed to arise out 
    of McDonald's conduct as a underwriter, broker, or dealer, the 
    prohibitions in section 9(a) would apply to McDonald as a result of the 
    Conviction. In addition, the section 9(a) prohibitions would apply to 
    any company which is an affiliated person of McDonald.
        3. Section 9(c) of the Act provides that, upon application, the SEC 
    shall grant an exemption from the provisions of section 9(a), either 
    unconditionally or on appropriate temporary or other conditional basis, 
    if it is established that the prohibitions of section 9(a), as applied 
    to the applicant, are unduly or disproportionately severe, or the 
    conduct of such person has been such as to not make it against the 
    public interest or protection of investors to grant the application.
        4. McDonald requests a permanent order exempting it from the 
    disqualification provisions of section 9(a) solely with respect to the 
    Conviction, and a temporary order exempting it from section 9(a) 
    pending the SEC's determination with respect to the permanent order. 
    Applicant understands that the SEC's Division of investment Management 
    (the ``Division'') only has the delegated authority to issue a 
    temporary order for a period not to exceed sixty days. 17 C.F.R. 
    200.30-5(a)(7). Accordingly, applicant requests that the Division, 
    under its delegated authority, issue a temporary order for sixty days. 
    If the SEC has not made a final determination with respect to the 
    permanent order within the sixty day time period, applicant further 
    requests that the SEC issue an additional temporary order to remain in 
    effect until it makes a final determination concerning the permanent 
    order. McDonald requests that the requested relief extend to all 
    entities that may become affiliated persons (as that term is defined in 
    section 2(a)(3) of the Act) of McDonald in the future. No affiliated 
    person of McDonald currently requires such relief or currently intends 
    to rely upon the requested relief.
        5. McDonald believes that the prohibitions of section 9(a) in 
    connection with the Conviction would be unduly or disproportionately 
    severe and its conduct is not such as to make it against the public 
    interest or protection of investors for the SEC to grant the requested 
    relief for the following reasons:
        a. The ORC provisions which form the basis of the Conviction apply 
    to any person or organization required to register as an employer of a 
    legislative agent. These are statutes of general applicability and none 
    of these provisions relate solely to underwriters, brokers, or dealers.
        b. The matters giving rise to the Conviction are unrelated to any 
    of McDonald's activities regrading registered investment companies, 
    including its position as principal underwriter and investment adviser 
    to the Funds.
        c. Upon learning that a report had not been filed accurately, 
    McDonald took remedial actions, including the following: (i) it filed 
    an amended report which accurately reported the expenditures which had 
    been made, (ii) it reassigned direct responsibility for filing these 
    reports to a senior management official who has overall responsibility 
    for McDonald's financial reporting obligations, and (iii) it 
    established a procedure for the prior review of all such filings.
        d. McDonald has never previously filed an application for relief 
    pursuant to section 9(c) and is not currently subject to any other 
    judgment or order that would disqualify it under section 9(a), besides 
    the Conviction described herein.
        e. A denial of the requested orders would adversely affect the 
    Funds and their shareholders. The Funds and their shareholders would 
    incur additional costs and possible disruption of service if the Funds 
    were required to retain one or more new principal underwriters and 
    investment advisers and to seek related approvals of their boards of 
    trustees and shareholders.
        f. In addition, McDonald states that granting a sixty day temporary 
    exemption would protect the interests of the Funds by allowing time for 
    the orderly consideration of the application for permanent relief by 
    the SEC.
        g. If the requested exemption is not granted, section 9(a) would 
    have an unduly and disproportionately severe impact on McDonald. The 
    imposition of
    
    [[Page 8989]]
    
    these prohibitions would prohibit McDonald from acting as the principal 
    underwriter or investment adviser for the Funds and other registered 
    open-end investment companies in the future. McDonald states that 
    acting in these capacities for the Funds is an integral part of 
    McDonald's business as a full-service brokerage firm. McDonald states 
    that it would lose substantial revenue if it were prohibited from 
    conducting this business.
    
    Applicant's Condition
    
        Applicant agrees that the following condition may be imposed in any 
    order of the SEC granting relief:
        Any temporary exemption issued pursuant to this application shall 
    be without prejudice to, and shall not limit the SEC's rights in any 
    manner with respect to, any SEC investigation of, or administrative 
    proceedings involving or against, applicant, including without 
    limitation, the consideration by the SEC of the application for a 
    permanent exemption from section 9(a) of the Act requested pursuant to 
    this application or the revocation or removal of any temporary 
    exemptions granted under the Act in connection with this application.
    
    Temporary Order
    
        The Division has considered the matter and, without necessarily 
    agreeing with all of the facts represented or all of the arguments 
    asserted by applicant, finds, in accordance with 17 CFR 200.30-5(a)(7), 
    that it appears that (i) the prohibitions of section 9(a), as applied 
    to applicant, may be unduly or disproportionately severe, (ii) 
    applicant's conduct has been such as not to make it against the public 
    interest or protection of investors to grant the temporary exemption, 
    and (iii) granting the temporary exemption would protect the interests 
    of the investment companies being served by applicant by allowing time 
    for the orderly consideration of the application for permanent relief.
        Accordingly, it is hereby ordered, under section 9(c), that 
    applicant is granted a temporary exemption for sixty days from the 
    provisions of section 9(a), effective forthwith, solely with respect to 
    the Conviction, subject to the condition in the application.
    
        For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management, 
    pursuant to delegated authority.
    Margaret H. McFarland,
    Deputy Secretary.
    [FR Doc. 96-5217 Filed 3-5-96; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 8010-01-M
    
    

Document Information

Published:
03/06/1996
Department:
Securities and Exchange Commission
Entry Type:
Notice
Action:
Temporary Order and Notice of Application for Permanent Exemption under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the ``Act'').
Document Number:
96-5217
Dates:
The application was filed on February 29, 1996.
Pages:
8987-8989 (3 pages)
Docket Numbers:
Rel. No. IC-21792, 812-10016
PDF File:
96-5217.pdf