BNY Mellon paying $14.8M to settle SEC charges on Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund

Wall Street bank BNY Mellon has agreed to pay $14.8 million to settle federal civil charges of attempting to influence officials of a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund by giving internships to their family members.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement Tuesday with BNY Mellon, which is the seventh-largest bank in the U.S. Bank employees aimed to keep and win business managing the sovereign fund's assets by offering the valuable internships to officials' sons and a nephew, the SEC said.

The family members getting the highly competitive internships didn't meet BNY Mellon's strict hiring standards, the agency said.

The New York bank neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. It is paying a $5 million fine, $8.3 million in restitution plus $1.5 million in interest.

The country wasn't named.