The city of Miami is being accused of breaking its probation for violating securities laws.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges on Friday afternoon, accusing the city of giving misleading information about its finances to investors in 2009 in an effort to makes its municipal bonds more attractive.
The agency also said that the city had broken a cease-and-desist order it signed in 2003 after facing similar charges. George Canellos, the co-head of the S.E.C.’s enforcement division, said in a statement that the city’s conduct was “all the more appalling and unacceptable,†because of the earlier problems.
It is the first time a municipality has been accused of violating a cease-and-desist order. The S.E.C. has faced criticism for not levying harsher penalties on repeat offenders.
A lawyer for Miami, Ivan Harris, said that the city would fight the charges in court.
“The city made detailed disclosures about these transactions, complied with accounting rules, received clean audits and its bond prices have remained stable throughout this time period,†Mr. Harris said. “How the S.E.C. concludes that fraud occurred is a mystery.â€
Miami is the latest municipality to face charges that it misled investors in marketing municipal bonds. The S.E.C. said that before selling $153.5 million of municipal bonds in 2009, Miami tried to make its finances look better by transferring $37.5 million to its general fund from its capital improvement fund. The city later reversed the transfers and ran into trouble with funding, leading credit ratings agencies to downgrade the city’s bonds.
The S.E.C. also charged Miami’s former budget director. His lawyer did not return calls seeking comment.
