SEC, Putnam deal frustrates states

[dArKeR]

Massachusetts regulators vow to file more charges

Putnam Investments said Thursday it will reform its business practices and reimburse clients to settle federal charges of improper trading but Massachusetts regulators vowed to file more charges against the company, and New York’s attorney general said the deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission did not resolve crucial issues involving restitution.

FEDERAL AND STATE REGULATORS separately charged that Putnam, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc., allowed some of its portfolio managers and certain clients to break company rules by buying and selling mutual fund shares very quickly to profit from stale prices.
Boston-based Putnam, the fifth largest U.S. mutual fund company, agreed to pay back investors who were hurt by the short-term trading. Putnam neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in the settlement, the SEC said.
“The reforms Putnam will undertake as part of the Commission’s order are intended to provide real and substantial protections for mutual fund investors,” said Stephen Cutler, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

http://msnbc.com/news/993249.asp?0cv=CB10

This is why our country is in shambles. Everyone knows what's happening but the truth is NOT clearly explained to the Sheeple by the conservative Think Tanks which the American Media Whores invite as guests. The GOP stands for letting off the White Collar Criminals as much and as often as possible through a weak/lying/cheating SEC/Attonrey General/Federal Government. But they come down and put in prison the black kids on the corner. Once in a trillion you have it so blatant and enough people get pissed off the GOP mildly fines one of their donors and their Think Tank/Media Whores go to work. Like Sue Huerra and Maggie Lake both announcing the finincial/crisis, which we are still in, (Enron, Halliburton, Adelphia, WorldCom...) was 'the investors fault because they didn't want to know what was going on.'

For the life of me I can't understand why a Dem. candidate doesn't work these clips into their TV campaigns. Not for the life of me.

[sendero]

1. I agree....

... one thousand percent, even if it is mathematically impossible.

Why these crooks get a pass is beyond me. Sometimes, I think it must be "but for the grace of God go I" syndrome, where everyone involved in politics and big business is on the take and they are basically being sympathetic to themselves.

[MrSoundAndVision]

2. It is odd...

but that's more the job of the media I guess, and we know whose side they're on. Bear in mind that the media are also white collar, and mostly white professionals.

Say, did you hear that Dennis Kucinich would split up all of the monopolies, including the media monopolies? Yep, he said so on "Talk of the Nation" yesterday. Click on

http://www.kucinich.us there is a link on the main page to the interview.

[KoKo]

3. Nice Post, dArKeR, couldn't agree more. People don't hear the truth and

how the truth affects them, they hear the truth explained away by "analysts" for th industry.

I still can't believe average folks are asleep on this..but they are.

[DUreader]

4. I can think of one reason

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Another good article on the same subject matter:

2 Mutual Funds Move to Assure Angry Investors
"It's clear that the S.E.C. is more interested in papering over wrongdoing than uncovering it," said William F. Galvin, commonwealth secretary of Massachusetts and the first regulator to identify problems at Putnam. "Their haste in entering into this agreement in what by far has been the most outrageous example of insider trading suggests that they are setting the bar here very low when it comes to mutual fund conduct."

Since early in September, when Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, announced the findings of an investigation into improper trading by hedge funds in shares of mutual funds, securities regulators have disclosed a string of dubious practices at large fund companies that, among other things, allowed their own employees to profit at the expense of other shareholders.

The disclosures have alarmed many investors, who have cashed in billions of dollars in fund shares in recent weeks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/business/14FUND.html?hp