General American Life to pay $3.3 million

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a settled enforcement action against General American Life Insurance Company and a former senior vice president, William C. Thater, for their roles in a late trading scheme. General American is a St. Louis-based insurance company and subsidiary of MetLife Inc. General American will pay a civil penalty of $3.3 million and Thater will pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties totaling $163,137 to settle charges that Thater permitted and General American failed to prevent late trading of mutual funds underlying one of General American’s variable insurance products. The payments will be distributed to the affected funds. The order that Thater, of Danbury, Conn., entered into a written agreement that gave a New York family exclusive late trading privileges in mutual funds underlying the private placement life insurance policies the family purchased from General American for approximately $20 million.