DB Analyst Fined for "Incongruent Reports"

Just the other day, the SEC settled with a former DB analyst for issuing recommendations on Big Lots that didn't agree with his actual views on the company. From the article:

Charles P. Grom, who worked for Deutsche Bank, will pay $100,000 to settle charges by the regulator that his recommendation to buy shares of the retailer Big Lots was inconsistent with his own negative view of the stock, which he privately expressed to a few colleagues and hedge fund clients.

For those who work in ER, is this as prevalent as discussed online? To what extent do sell-side analysts inflate a company's report in order to maintain good relations with their management teams? If that is the case, it seems his big mistake was blabbing to the wrong person(s).

Also slightly related (which was brought to my attention through the NYT article) is Henry Blodget's sale of his stake in Business Insider for $343 million to Axel Springer last year. Previously, he was a ML analyst who was fined $4 million for the same thing as Grom, although it looks like getting barred from the industry was the best thing to happen to him.