Morgan Stanley agreed to pay more than 3.3 million dollars to settle charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for improper fee arrangement, SEC said Wednesday in a statement.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) was the primary investment adviser to the Malaysia Fund, and it subcontracted a third party to provide advice, research and assistance to MSIM for the benefit of the fund. But the sub-advisor did not provide the purported services, and MSIM repeatedly charged the fund for the services for more than a decade, noted SEC.

SEC charged the Morgan Stanley investment branch with violating securities laws. Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, MSIM agreed to pay the fund 1.845 million dollars for the advisory services from 1996 to 2007 and pay a 1.5 million penalty.

In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011, SEC's enforcement division has filed a record 735 enforcement actions and ordered more than 2.8 billion dollars in penalties and disgorgement. These cases involve many major international financial players such as J. P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

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