Seven former traders and executives of Datek Online, including former chief executive Jeffrey A. Citron and Sheldon Maschler, the former chief trader, agreed to pay $70 million in fines for what regulators called illegal trading and fraudulent bookkeeping. The Securities and Exchange Commission called it one the largest securities fraud settlements ever. The government said the group of former traders and executives made millions of dollars from stock fraud that involved taking advantage of a NASDAQ trading system.

Under the terms of the settlement, Mr. Citron and Mr. Maschler acknowledged no wrongdoing. Mr. Citron and Mr. Maschler admitted to no wrongdoing under the settlement. Datek, which was recently acquired by Ameritrade, paid a $6.3 million fine a year ago to regulators to settle similar accusations of stock fraud.

(via New York Times)