E.F. Hutton & Co.

One of America's biggest stockbrokers, with more than 400 branches.

Between 1980 and 1982 its branches wrote checks for more money than they had, then moved money between banks so the checks cleared. That gave Hutton free use of up to $250M a day at the banks' expense. The firm pleaded guilty. No person was charged.

E.F. Hutton was founded in 1904 and by the 1980s was one of the largest brokerages in the US. From 1 July 1980 to 28 February 1982, its branches wrote checks that were bigger than their balances, then covered them with deposits from other banks before the first checks cleared. At peak, overdrafts passed $250 million a day across more than 400 banks. A bank in Leroy, New York, noticed. On 2 May 1985 Hutton pleaded guilty to 2,000 counts of mail and wire fraud and paid a $2 million fine and $750,000 in costs. No individual was prosecuted. After the 1987 market crash Hutton agreed to be bought by Shearson Lehman for about $960 million.

On 2 May 1985 the company pleaded guilty in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to 2,000 counts of mail and wire fraud. It paid a $2M fine and $750,000 toward investigation costs and set aside $8M to repay banks. No executive was prosecuted.