SECURITIES

A.R. Baron Consents to Tape Sales Pitches: The New York brokerage accused of blatant sales malpractices agreed to tape telephone sales pitches of its brokers and open a toll-free number to receive customer complaints, regulators said. The measures are part of A.R. Baron & Co.’s temporary cease-and-desist order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose enforcement staff filed an administrative complaint against the firm and two of its top executives last week. In its complaint, the SEC’s enforcement division alleged that the firm and its president, Andrew Bressman, and Roman Okin, a broker at the firm, had committed “egregious fraudulent sales practices.” In a statement, A.R. Baron said it consented to the order without admitting or denying the allegations.