Putting the Pump in 'Pump and Dump'

Deception was the name of the game on Wall Street when it came to stock research during the bull market. Or, at least, it was a big part of it.

In reaching a $1.4 billion settlement with 10 big Wall Street firms, securities regulators allege that in their zeal for investment banking fees, research analysts at some firms issued stock reports that were either "misleading," "exaggerated," "unwarranted" or, in some cases, outright "fraudulent."

In all, regulators allege that eight firms, including Citigroup(C Quote), Goldman Sachs(GS Quote) and Merrill Lynch(MER Quote), issued deceptive research reports on at least 35 stocks. ...