Billionaire hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone’s $18 million settlement with U.S. regulators that includes a five-year ban from the securities industry and an admission of wrongdoing was accepted by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan today said in a written order that the agreement reached last month with Falcone and Harbinger Capital Partners LLC is “appropriate and proportionate to the defendants’ admitted wrongful conduct.” [Bloomberg, earlier, earlier]