Hickok to Pay $50,000 in Bank-Stock Inquiry

Eugene W. Hickok, who was the No. 2 official in the Department of Education earlier in the Bush administration, has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle possible conflict-of-interest charges over stock he owned in a bank that participates in the federal student-loan program.

Mr. Hickok, who served as the deputy secretary of education from April 2004 until February 2005, helped oversee the program.

Authorities said he did not keep his promise to sell more than 800 shares in Bank of America Corp. when he became deputy secretary. Mr. Hickok also misled federal ethics officers by telling them that he had divested all of the shares of several bank stocks when he had not done so, according to a statement by Jeffery A. Taylor, the...