The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the hedge fund advisor Philip Falcone and his advisory firm Harbinger Capital Partners have agreed to a settlement in which they must pay more than $18 million and admit wrongdoing. Falcone also agreed to be barred from the securities industry for at least five years. The SEC alleged that Falcone improperly used $113 million in fund assets to pay his personal taxes, secretly favoured certain customer redemption requests at the expense of other investors, and in general, harmed investors and interfered with the normal functioning of the securities markets.

The settlement is to be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.