HEALTH

NME Settlement With SEC Approved: National Medical Enterprises said a federal judge approved an agreement between the company and the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle securities fraud charges involving activities at NME’s psychiatric and substance-abuse facilities. The SEC had accused the company of making false statements in required federal filings and annual reports from 1990 through late 1992. Generally, the SEC alleges that the company misled investors by improperly recording its sales and profit and by not disclosing that its businesses “were subject to material risks” arising from practices at some of its psychiatric and substance-abuse facilities. The agreement was part of broad negotiations between NME and the federal government in which the company last month pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts and agreed to pay $379 million in fines and restitution.