Feb 15 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge ordered a British hedge fund firm and its chief executive to pay $76.8 million following a trial on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that it engaged in abusive mutual fund trading.

The SEC case against Pentagon Capital Management Plc and Lewis Chester is among the last related to a long-running industry-wide probe into improper trading in mutual fund shares, and one of the few to go to trial. That probe was unveiled in September 2003 by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan said the SEC proved that Pentagon “intentionally and egregiously” violated federal securities laws by engaging in “late trading,” or making mutual fund trades after the market close, but at stale prices.

“This scheme was broad ranging over the course of several years and in no sense isolated,” Sweet wrote.

The judge separately rejected the SEC’s claim that Pentagon engaged in fraudulent “market timing” in mutual funds.

Pentagon had been accused of trading improperly from about June 1999 to September 2003. The penalty includes the disgorgement of $38.4 million of improper profits and a $38.4 million fine.

Sweet had presided over a 17-day non-jury trial that ended last May.

Feb 14 (Reuters) – Gucci can go forward with a lawsuit accusing apparel retailer Guess Inc of selling knockoff products without its permission, a U.S. judge ruled.

The Italian luxury goods company had accused Guess in May 2009 of trying to “Gucci-ize” its product line by selling wallets, belts, shoes and other items whose designs copied or mimicked the Italian company’s designs.

Founded in 1921 and now owned by Paris-based PPR SA , Gucci is one of many luxury goods companies to sue alleged copycats.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan on Tuesday said Gucci may pursue claims over Guess’ alleged infringement of four designs: green-red-green stripes, a script logo, a stylized “Square G,” and a group of four interlocking “G”s known as a “Quattro G.”

She said one could reasonably infer that Guess acted in bad faith by developing designs that might cause confusion, and that Gucci had produced evidence that the Quattro G design did generate “actual confusion” among shoppers.

The judge dismissed two Gucci claims alleging trademark dilution over the Square G and Quattro G designs, citing a lack of evidence.

Robert Welsh, a lawyer for Guess, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Guess had argued that it did not engage in “willful deceit,” and that its product sales did not confuse shoppers or tarnish Gucci’s reputation.

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A U.S. market regulator is for now dropping insider trading cases against three Swiss asset managers, despite accusations that two of the defendants improperly thwarted its investigation, including by throwing out a BlackBerry.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Compania Internacional Financiera SA and Coudree Capital Gestion SA had “repeatedly failed” to cooperate in providing evidence.

The agency wants to end the cases but is seeking permission to pursue them if new information comes to light, according to the court papers filed late Friday.

Separately, the SEC said it will dismiss its claims against the third defendant, Chartwell Asset Management Services. All of the dismissals require court approval.

The SEC had accused the defendants of improperly reaping millions of dollars in buying 1.04 million shares of Arch Chemicals Inc before the Norwalk, Connecticut-based company agreed to a $1.2 billion buyout on July 11, 2011.

Arch shares rose 21.4 percent in the week before Switzerland’s Lonza Group AG (LONN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to buy it for $47.20 per share, a 12 percent premium. The defendants then began selling their Arch shares, the SEC had alleged. Lonza completed the purchase in October.

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge dismissed a large part of a nationwide lawsuit accusing BP Plc and top executives of fraud for misleading shareholders before and after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill about the oil company’s ability to respond to an accident.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison in Houston dismissed claims by purchasers of ordinary BP shares, citing a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the ability of purchasers of foreign securities to raise fraud claims.

The judge also dismissed claims by purchasers of American depositary shares against current Chief Executive Robert Dudley and several other BP officials.

Ellison nonetheless refused to dismiss claims by the ADS investors against BP, former Chief Executive Anthony Hayward and former Chief Operating Officer for Exploration and Production Douglas Suttles, saying they had adequately pleaded violations of U.S. securities law.

The investors, who claimed BP touted its dedication to safety even as it cut budgets, “have sufficiently pleaded facts to demonstrate that BP misrepresented the size of the spill it was prepared to respond to in the Gulf and misrepresented the company’s general spill response capabilities,” Ellison wrote.

BP spokesman Scott Dean declined to comment.

Feb 10 (Reuters) – Eleven states, including California and New York, sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to compel it to review clean air standards for soot pollution nationwide, after the agency had missed an October deadline.

The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court seeks a court order demanding that the EPA fulfill its obligation under the federal Clean Air Act to review, and as necessary update the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for the pollution.

According to the states, the Clean Air Act requires air quality standards for pollutants such as soot to be updated as necessary every five years. They said the EPA has not reviewed these standards since October 2006.

Soot is also known as “fine particulate matter pollution” or “PM 2.5,” and is often produced by power plants as well as diesel buses and trucks.

“Clean air is a public right,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “The EPA must take prompt action to reduce pollution now, and safeguard the health of the public and the air we breathe.”

The EPA “is continuing to work on proposing the PM 2.5 standards,” spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara said.

Schneiderman said an estimated one-third of the U.S. population, or more than 100 million people, are particularly susceptible to harm from soot, including children and senior citizens.

Feb 10 (Reuters) – Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, was declared a fugitive after failing to show up in a U.S. court to answer a criminal charge that it conspired to help wealthy Americans evade taxes.

At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Friday suggested that U.S. prosecutors enlist the help of diplomatic authorities, including perhaps the State Department, to advance the case.

The indictment of Wegelin, which was founded in 1741, was the first in which the United States accused a foreign bank, rather than individuals, of helping Americans commit tax fraud.

Wegelin was accused of helping clients hide more than $1.2 billion in offshore bank accounts.

“Occasionally in these situations, progress is made through diplomatic channels,” Rakoff told Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Levy at the hearing. “Unlike an individual, arresting a company is somewhat difficult, other than in science fiction.”

Rakoff spoke after Levy said “we have no proposal” for how to get Wegelin to formally answer the charge.

Prosecutors unveiled the charge on Feb. 2, one month after bringing conspiracy charges against three bankers in its Zurich branch: Michael Berlinka, Urs Frei and Roger Keller.

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – A divided federal appeals court upheld a $371.2 million award in favor of C.R. Bard Inc in a long-running patent infringement dispute with W.L. Gore & Associates over vascular grafts.

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. said there was “substantial” evidence to support a 2007 Arizona jury verdict that Gore, the maker of Gore-Tex, willfully infringed a Bard patent through its sale of the grafts.

Shares of Bard rose as much as 3.7 percent after the decision.

Prosthetic vascular grafts are used to bypass or replace blood vessels to ensure sufficient blood flow to various parts of the body.

Bard’s patent had been issued in 2002, 28 years after an application was first filed, and sued Gore for infringement the following year.

The Arizona jury had awarded Bard $185.6 million for lost profit and unpaid royalties, an award that trial judge Mary Murguia later doubled.

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – BP Plc won a court order to keep references to some previous accidents out of this month’s trial to assess blame for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the oil company’s second victory in as many days to bar potentially damaging evidence.

Thursday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans followed a ruling Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan to keep out some emails questioning some of BP’s activities before and after the spill.

Barbier blocked the introduction of evidence related to two accidents involving BP facilities: a 2005 explosion at a Texas City, Texas refinery that killed 15 people, and a 2006 rupture of a corroded pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

In the Texas case, BP pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and accepted a $50 million fine. BP pleaded guilty to a criminal Clean Water Act violation and was fined $20 million in the Alaska case.

Barbier, however, ruled that the prior incidents were “not sufficiently similar” to the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and blowout of the Macondo oil well, which BP mainly owned.

“The prior incidents were all land-based, while the Macondo incident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico,” Barbier wrote. “Additionally, the circumstances of oil refinery disasters and (an) exploratory drilling disaster are vastly different.”

Feb 9 (Reuters) – BP Plc won a court order to keep references to some previous accidents out of this month’s trial to assess blame for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the oil company’s second victory in as many days to bar potentially damaging evidence.

Thursday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans followed a ruling Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan to keep out some emails questioning some of BP’s activities before and after the spill.

Barbier blocked the introduction of evidence related to two accidents involving BP facilities: a 2005 explosion at a Texas City, Texas refinery that killed 15 people, and a 2006 rupture of a corroded pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

In the Texas case, BP pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and accepted a $50 million fine. BP pleaded guilty to a criminal Clean Water Act violation and was fined $20 million in the Alaska case.

Barbier, however, ruled that the prior incidents were “not sufficiently similar” to the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and blowout of the Macondo oil well, which BP mainly owned.

“The prior incidents were all land-based, while the Macondo incident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico,” Barbier wrote. “Additionally, the circumstances of oil refinery disasters and (an) exploratory drilling disaster are vastly different.”

James Roy, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, who include people and businesses harmed by the accident, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Feb 9 (Reuters) – Intel Corp agreed to pay just $6.5 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit in which New York’s attorney general accused the world’s largest chipmaker of threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars of kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.

The settlement ends a November 2009 Delaware case brought by Andrew Cuomo, then New York’s attorney general and now governor. Eric Schneiderman, the current attorney general, took over the case when he succeeded Cuomo in that position.

Intel’s $6.5 million payment represents less than five hours of profit for the Santa Clara, California-based company, based on reported net income of $12.94 billion for 2011.

Cuomo had accused Intel of violating state and federal antitrust law through a “systematic worldwide campaign” to bully customers into buying its personal computer chips, at the expense of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

But the lawsuit lost much of its punch when U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark said the state could not seek triple damages, and was allowed to pursue claims over just three years of computer purchases, not four or six as it had sought.

Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman, said the state’s lawyers still believe their substantive claims have merit, but that “in light of the court’s decision believe that no purpose is served by pursuing the matter further.”

Intel said it was pleased to settle, and that the accord did not require it to admit to any allegations or violation of law, or make any changes to its business.