Janus Fighting W.Va. AG on Timing Charges

Along with a laundry list of fund companies that have come under fire from federal and state regulators, Janus Capital Management Group is again battling charges related to market-timing and after-hours trading. However, the fund company asserts that the suit, this time brought by State Attorney General Darrell McGraw in West Virginia , is precluded by settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other state regulators, the Associated Press reports.

"The key underlying issues in the West Virginia complaint are duplicative of earlier filed actions and have been resolved,'' said a Janus spokesperson. "Janus intends to contest this filing vigorously."

However, Fran Hughes, chief deputy attorney general in West Virginia , asserted that the state was pushed to file its own lawsuit because the SEC's settlement did not go far enough.

"A lot of times we feel that SEC enforcement doesn't really fully compensate the states for their losses," Hughes said. He asserted that the state does have the right to go after companies for violations of West Virginia securities laws.

However, even if McGraw's suit is successful, it may not fatten local investors' wallets by much, said Jake Zamansky, securities fraud attorney at Zamansky & Associates.

"While the action is probably warranted by the attorney general, the ordinary investor will not be getting much in the way of compensation, probably just enough to buy a hamburger at McDonald's or a cup of coffee at Starbucks,'' Zamansky said. "The mom-and-pop investors are going to get nothing out of this."

The other firms named in the suit include: AIM Advisors Inc. and its Invesco Funds Group subsidiary; Fred Alger Management; Alliance Capital Management, Franklin Advisers; Massachusetts Financial Services; Pilgrim Baxter & Associates; Strong Capital Management; and various PIMCO units.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.

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