Falcone gets to keep LightSquared, but SEC bans him from trading

Billionaire and would-be 4G entrepreneur Philip Falcone has accepted an Securities and Exchange Commission settlement requiring him sit out of the hedge fund industry for five years. In exchange he gets to keep control of LightSquared.

He believes he can still make a state-of-the-art broadband network out of the controversial attempt by LightSquared to convert satellite radio frequencies into a new cellular service. [He also believes in the Easter Bunny.] The company is now mired in bankruptcy, but Falcone still sees hope. Falcone stands little chance of getting this network built, though, unless the Federal Communications Commission gives into his demands to swap out his L-band airwaves for less crowded airwaves. Right now the best chance of seeing a 4G network in the L-band band is probably Charlie Ergen, Chairman of Dish Network, who would combine and reconfigure it with his company's satellite spectrum.