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Allianz to pay over $1B to settle SEC charges
Allianz Global Investors US LLC (AGI US) will pay more than $1 billion to settle charges brought by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusing it of running a "massive fraudulent scheme." Together with its parent company Allianz SE, AGI US will also pay over $5 billion in restitution to victims.
The SEC claimed AGI US "orchestrated the multi-year scheme to mislead investors who invested approximately $11 billion" in a trading strategy called Structured Alpha, accusing three of the company's former senior portfolio managers of manipulating financial reports and other information, as well as concealing the "the magnitude of Structured Alpha’s true risk and the funds' actual performance." The SEC added AGI US will also be "automatically and immediately disqualified from providing advisory services to US registered investment funds for the next ten years."