Investors Still Waiting for Restitution From Trading Scandal

Four years, $2.5 billion in fines and a continuing fund scandal later, regulators are still trying to figure out how to compensate investors whose assets were depleted by the actions of the late-trading and market-timing scammers, The Capital reports.

Even when they track down investors in the funds, regulators have to figure out exactly how many shares the investors owned when the timing took place—and how much that timing depleted their value. And then there are those investors who have since sold their shares, as well as those who held accounts through employer retirement accounts and whose identities cannot be uncovered.

In the end, the IRS may claim rights to taxes on the refunds and the cost of all of this calculation will be depleted from any refunds. No surprise, then, that many experts believe individuals will see no more than $10 returned to them.

In the meanwhile, many funds have argued that the best way to solve this dilemma is simply to return the refunds to the funds that were market timed.

Ironically, when the assets are returned to the funds—many of which knowingly permitted or solicited the wrongdoing—the money will reward those firms with higher fees.