Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $2 million to settle SEC charges that it...

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $2 million to settle SEC charges that it violated federal securities laws in connection with four IPOs in 1999 and 2000 in which Goldman was the underwriter, according to an administrative order from the SEC. According to the order, filed today, sales traders on Goldman's Asian sales desk tried to sell shares in the four IPOs before the SEC declared their registration statements effective. The four IPOs were PetroChina Co. Ltd., China Telecom Hong Kong Ltd., Chinadotcom Corp. and Gigamedia Ltd. Goldman neither admitted nor denied the allegations, and a spokesman was not available for comment.