A former senior trader at Nomura Holdings Inc. lied to customers about bond prices to boost the bank’s profits and his own bonus, the SEC said in court, Bloomberg News reported. James Im, a Nomura managing director who headed trading in commercial mortgage-backed securities from 2009 to 2014, went on trial Wednesday in Manhattan. A 2017 Securities and Exchange Commission suit accused Im of misrepresenting prices to clients who sought to buy and sell CMBS on the secondary market. “This case is about lies,” SEC lawyer Ladan Stewart said during opening statements. “Lies told by the defendant, James Im, a Wall Street trader. Lies he told repeatedly for many years. Lies he told to customers who expected him to be truthful.” The regulator claims that Im and another trader, Kee Chan, who ran the CMBS desk with him from August 2009 to June 2012, pretended they were still negotiating with a third-party seller at higher prices when Nomura had already bought the bonds involved at a lower price. According to the SEC, their actions generated more than $750,000 in extra profits for the bank, which resulted in “substantial” bonuses, the SEC said.
