1.   Despite his criticism of Merrill Lynch, Youngnoted that the trial had shown that Ferber had initiated contact with the underwriting firm to secure the secret contract.

2.   Other underwriting firms remain under SEC investigation, and it is not clear if any charges will result from that inquiry.

3.   Several public financiers also testified that Ferber had sought to gain similar arrangements with their underwriting firms as he had with Merrill Lynch.

4.   So far, both underwriting firms have been jockeying for position, delicately trying to gauge the mood for IPOs.

5.   Ten people and two underwriting firms have been charged with numerous securities offenses.

6.   The buyers are those who have a friend at an underwriting firm or at the company itself, or that are such important investors that they automatically get included.

7.   The PSA recently requested that Levitt drop his support for the voluntary contributions ban agreed to by underwriting firms.

8.   Those shares were allocated to institutional investors and to favorite customers of the underwriting firms.