May 17, 2022
Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to pay a criminal fine of
$2.3 billion, an SEC penalty of
$675 million, and over $5 billion in disgorgement and restitution to victims. Three former AGI senior portfolio managers,
Gregoire Tournant,
Trevor Taylor, and
Stephen Bond-Nelson, also pleaded guilty to related charges and will be sentenced at a later date. As part of its plea, AGI admitted that between 2014 and 2020, AGI and the individual defendants made false and misleading statements to current and prospective investors in AGI’s Structured Alpha Funds which understated downside risks and overstated the level of independent risk oversight over the funds. While the funds promised risk management and hedging, the actual investment strategy prioritized returns over risk management, and the promised hedging positions were not purchased. To conceal losses and understate the magnitude of the actual risks, defendants fraudulently altered numerous financial reports and other information provided to investors. The scheme was exposed when the funds experienced billions in losses during the 2020 COVID-related market volatility. With its guilty plea, AGI US is disqualified from providing advisory services to U.S.-registered investment funds for the next ten years, and will exit the business of conducting these fund services.
SEC;
DOJ;
SDNY