According to the SEC's complaint, although labeled as payments for work on the transactions, LeCroy and MacFaddin knew that these were sham transactions designed to ensure that County officials selected J.P. Morgan Securities. LeCroy and MacFaddin referred to the payments in taped telephone conversations as "payoffs," "the price of doing business" or "giving away free money." J.P. Morgan Securities incorporated the costs of these unlawful payments by charging Jefferson County higher interest rates on the swap transactions.

The SEC further alleges that LeCroy and MacFaddin failed to disclose any of these payments, and the inherent conflicts of interest raised by the payments, either to the County or investors in bond offerings, or to the County in the swap agreements at issue. This conduct deprived Jefferson County and its investors of objective and impartial bond underwriting processes and swap agreement negotiations.

The SEC's complaint charges LeCroy and MacFaddin with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Sections 10(b) and 15B(c)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rules G-17 and G-20. The SEC's complaint seeks judgments against each defendant providing for permanent injunctions and disgorgement with prejudgment interest.

In April 2008, the SEC filed a civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Larry Langford (the former president of the Jefferson County commission); William B. Blount, chairman of Blount Parrish & Co, Inc., a broker-dealer based in Montgomery, Alabama; and registered lobbyist Albert LaPierre. The SEC's complaint alleged that while Langford served as president of the County Commission, he accepted more than $156,000 in undisclosed cash and benefits over the course of two years from Blount in exchange for Blount Parrish participating in every Jefferson County municipal bond offering and security-based swap agreement transaction during 2003 and 2004. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Larry P. Langford, William B. Blount, Blount Parrish & Co., Inc., and Albert W. LaPierre, Case No. Case No. cv-08-B-0761-S (N.D. Ala., filed April 30, 2008). This case was the SEC's first enforcement action involving security-based swap agreements.

On December 1, 2008, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama filed criminal charges against Langford, Blount and LaPierre. The 101-count indictment charged Langford, Blount, and LaPierre with, among other charges, conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering in an alleged long-running bribery scheme related to Jefferson County bond transactions and swap agreements. United States of America v. Larry P. Langford, William B. Blount, and Albert W. LaPierre, (United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Case No. 2:08-CR-00245-LSC-PWG). On July 30, 2009, LaPierre pled guilty to the charges of conspiracy and filing a false tax return, and agreed to forfeit $371,932 and pay back taxes. On August 18, 2009, Blount pled guilty to conspiracy and bribery and agreed to forfeit $1,000,000. On October 28, 2009, Langford was found guilty on 60 counts of bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. All three currently await sentencing.

For further information see Litigation Release Nos. 20400 (Dec. 17, 2007), 20545 (April 30, 2008), 20821 (Dec. 5, 2008). [SEC v. Charles E. LeCroy, and Douglas W. MacFaddin, Case No. cv-09 U/B 2238-S (N.D. Ala.)] (LR-21280)

PCI Express Gen 1.x, Gen 2.0 present their own challenges. Interoperability issues detected at a compliance workshop may be difficult to debug independently with either a protocol analyzer or physical layer compliance test because the problem is often due to correlated physical layer/protocol transmission problems. By showing the link layer protocol decode and the physical layer waveform simultaneously on the oscilloscope, debug time can be dramatically decreased. PCI Express Gen 1.x, widely available in embedded microcontrollers, is used by a wide pool of hardware and systems engineers who may not be familiar with PCI Express. By providing a link layer decode annotation on the oscilloscope, it becomes easier for these engineers to implement this standard in their design, and also assess the relationship between the PCI Express traffic and control lines or other signals in their embedded control system.

The initial data rate for decoding may be set to the common 2.5, 5, or 8 GT/s, PCI Express Gen 2.0 and Gen 3.0 begin handshaking at lower bit rates, and once the link is established, increase to their maximum data rate. The decode algorithm recognizes the different bit rates and decodes appropriately, and supports modes with and without scrambling enabled.

Intuitive, Color-Coded Decode Annotation

Advanced algorithms deconstruct the waveform into protocol information, and then annotate the physical layer waveform on the oscilloscope grid. Decode annotation condenses or expands depending on the timebase/zoom ratio setting. Various portions of the protocol are color-coded for intuitive, quick visual understanding of the protocol behavior and easy visibility, even with long acquisitions. For instance, TS1 and SKIPs are color-coded a grayish blue while Electrical Idle, Error, or Unrecognized frames are color-coded red. Other message types are uniquely color-coded.

Convenient Table Display and Search

Decoded information is conveniently shown in a tabular format. Simply touching a specific frame index in the table or searching for a specific frame type automatically creates a zoom trace showing physical layer detail along with expanded decode information. Search supports Compliance, EIEOS, EIOS, Electrical Idle/Error, DLLP, Logical Idle, SKIP, TLP, TS1, TS2, Unrecognized, or Any Type of frame. Engineers may easily display all TS1 frames by searching for the first and then simply pressing "Next" to advance through successive frames. Off-line data analysis is made simple by exporting tabular data in .csv format and analyzing the data later in Excel.

Support on Multiple Oscilloscope Platforms

The option is available on a wide range of oscilloscope models with real-time bandwidths from 2.5 GHz to 30 GHz (the world's fastest real-time oscilloscope) supporting the full range of PCIe users, from Gen 1.x to 3.0. To support the large installed base of LeCroy users, the option is fully compatible with the WavePro 7 Zi, WaveMaster 8 Zi, WavePro 7000, and WaveMaster 8000 Series of oscilloscopes and serial data/disk drive analyzers based on these platforms (including SDA11000, SDA13000, and SDA18000). Bandwidth is recommended as >= the PCI Express GT/s rate, with a minimum oscilloscope sample rate requirement of 4x the data rate.

Further Information

Engineers and technicians who would like to learn more can contact LeCroy at 1-800-5LeCroy (1-800-553-2769) or visit the LeCroy web site (www.lecroy.com).

About LeCroy

LeCroy Corporation is a worldwide leader in serial data test solutions, creating advanced instruments that drive product innovation by quickly measuring, analyzing, and verifying complex electronic signals. The Company offers high-performance oscilloscopes, serial data analyzers, and global communications protocol test solutions used by design engineers in the computer and semiconductor, data storage device, automotive and industrial, and military and aerospace markets. LeCroy's 45-year heritage of technical innovation is the foundation for its recognized leadership in "WaveShape Analysis" -- capturing, viewing, and measuring the high-speed signals that drive today's information and communications technologies. LeCroy is headquartered in Chestnut Ridge, New York. Company information is available at http://www.lecroy.com.

Specifications are subject to change without notice.

    Media contact:              Patrick Brightman - SGW
                                (973) 263-5475
    Editors' Technical contact: Ken Johnson - Product Marketing Manager
                                (845) 216-8399
    Customer contact:           LeCroy Customer Care Center
                                (800) 553-2769

Website: www.lecroy.com

SOURCE LeCroy Corporation

http://www.lecroy.com

In addition to automated compliance testing of SAS-2 signals, QualiPHY SAS-2 also enables powerful debug capability for SAS-2 signals inside the oscilloscope. All of the waveforms tested can be saved to easily share information or rerun the tests at a later time. Root causes of failure can be quickly and easily found using all of the advanced serial data tools within the oscilloscope. These include LeCroy's popular SDA II, Eye Doctor II, and WaveScan features.

Engineers and technicians who would like to know more can contact LeCroy at 1-800-5LeCroy (1-800-553-2769) or visit www.lecroy.com.

About QualiPHY

QualiPHY, LeCroy's automated test engine, is an easy to configure user interface that allows for custom test and limit selection, displays connection diagrams to the user to ensure proper connectivity, and generates reports with all of the results including screenshots of the worst case failures for each applicable test.

About LeCroy

LeCroy Corporation is a worldwide leader in serial data test solutions, creating advanced instruments that drive product innovation by quickly measuring, analyzing, and verifying complex electronic signals. The Company offers high-performance oscilloscopes, serial data analyzers, and global communications protocol test solutions used by design engineers in the computer and semiconductor, data storage device, automotive and industrial, and military and aerospace markets. LeCroy's 45-year heritage of technical innovation is the foundation for its recognized leadership in "WaveShape Analysis"--capturing, viewing, and measuring the high-speed signals that drive today's information and communications technologies. LeCroy is headquartered in Chestnut Ridge, New York. Company information is available at http://www.lecroy.com.

A(C) 2009 by LeCroy Corporation. All rights reserved. Specifications are subject to change without notice.

    Media contact:               Patrick Brightman - SGW      (973) 263-5475
    Editors' Technical contact:  Christopher Busso -          (845) 425-2000
                                 Product Marketing Manager
    Customer contact:            LeCroy Customer Care Center  (800) 553-2769
    Website:                     www.lecroy.com

SOURCE LeCroy Corporation

http://www.lecroy.com

- Administrative Proceeding Against J.P. Morgan Securities

- Litigation Release No. 21280

- SEC Complaint Against LeCroy and MacFaddin

J.P. Morgan Securities settled the SEC's charges and will pay a penalty of $25 million, make a payment of $50 million to Jefferson County, and forfeit more than $647 million in claimed termination fees.

The SEC alleges that J.P. Morgan Securities and former managing directors Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin made more than $8 million in undisclosed payments to close friends of certain Jefferson County commissioners. The friends owned or worked at local broker-dealer firms that performed no known services on the transactions. In connection with the payments, the county commissioners voted to select J.P. Morgan Securities as managing underwriter of the bond offerings and its affiliated bank as swap provider for the transactions.

J.P. Morgan Securities did not disclose any of the payments or conflicts of interest in the swap confirmation agreements or bond offering documents, yet passed on the cost of the unlawful payments by charging the county higher interest rates on the swap transactions.

"The transactions were complex but the scheme was simple. Senior J.P. Morgan bankers made unlawful payments to win business and earn fees," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

Glenn S. Gordon, Associate Director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office, added, "This self-serving strategy of paying hefty secret fees to local firms with ties to county commissioners assured J.P. Morgan Securities the largest municipal auction rate securities and swap agreement transactions in its history."

The SEC previously charged Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and two others for undisclosed payments to Langford related to municipal bond offerings and swap agreement transactions that he directed on behalf of Jefferson County while serving as president of the County Commission. On Oct. 28, 2009, Langford was found guilty in a parallel criminal case on 60 counts of bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. He currently awaits sentencing.

According to the SEC's complaint filed against LeCroy and McFaddin in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the two former managing directors demonstrated in taped telephone conversations that they knew the payments to local firms with ties to county commissioners were designed to obtain business for J.P. Morgan's broker-dealer and affiliated bank. LeCroy and MacFaddin referred to the payments as "payoffs," "giving away free money," and "the price of doing business."

The SEC alleges that the scheme began in July 2002, when LeCroy and MacFaddin solicited Jefferson County on behalf of J.P. Morgan Securities for a $1.4 billion sewer bond deal. LeCroy and MacFaddin knew several county commissioners wanted to complete the transaction before November, when two commissioners would leave office and lose their ability to funnel payments to their supporters' firms. LeCroy later boasted to MacFaddin in a taped telephone conversation about his efforts to persuade the two commissioners to select J.P. Morgan Securities for the deal, beating out a rival firm. LeCroy told MacFaddin that he said to the commissioners, "Whatever you want - if that's what you need, that's what you get - just tell us how much."

J.P. Morgan Securities agreed to settle the SEC's charges without admitting or denying the allegations by paying $50 million to the county for the purpose of assisting displaced county employees, residents and sewer rate payers; forfeiting more than $647 million in termination fees it claims the county owes under the swap transactions; and paying a $25 million penalty that will be placed in a Fair Fund to compensate harmed investors and the county in the municipal bond offerings and the swap transactions. LeCroy and MacFaddin have not agreed to settle the SEC's charges.

The SEC's order instituting settled administrative proceedings against J.P. Morgan Securities finds that it violated Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 15B(c)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rule G-17. In addition to the monetary relief described above, the SEC's order censures J.P. Morgan Securities and directs it to cease-and-desist from committing or causing any further violations of the provisions charged.

The SEC charged LeCroy and MacFaddin with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, Sections 10(b) and 15B(c)(1) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and violations of MSRB Rules G-17 and G-20. The SEC's complaint seeks judgments against LeCroy and MacFaddin providing for permanent injunctions and disgorgement with prejudgment interest.

CONTACT: Glenn S. Gordon, Associate Regional Director, SEC's Miami Regional Office, Us Sec Tel: +1 305 982 6360 Robert Levenson, Regional Trial Counsel, SEC's Miami Regional Office, Us Sec Tel: 305 982 6341 WWW: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-232.htm

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