Morgan Stanley banker pleads guilty in bribery case

Garth Peterson, a 42-year-old American who ran Morgan Stanley’s (MS.NYSE) global real estate practice in Shanghai, pleaded guilty in a New York court to bribing a Chinese official to win lucrative real estate investments for the bank and himself, the Financial Times reported. Peterson will face up to five years in prison. The US Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to settle in a separate civil suit against Peterson for striking side deals with the unnamed Chinese official for stakes in apartment complexes and splitting US$1.8 million in “finder’s fees.” A separate report said Du Jun, a former managing director for Morgan Stanley, yesterday appealed a seven-year sentence in Hong Kong for an insider trading convinction. Du’s is the longest jail sentence for the offense since Hong Kong criminalized insider trading in 2003.