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New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer took a short break from stamping out mutual fund abuses on Thursday, long enough to raise $2 million at a fundraiser as the state’s top regulator eyes a bid for governor.

William Galvin, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth said last week that New Hampshire, Alabama, and Connecticut have joined in subpoenaing fund companies seeking their records in relation to the ongoing investigation into trading practices, Reuters reports.

Alliance Capital is close to settling with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, according to reports this morning.

Although pricing is usually a Securities and Exchange Commission concern and responsibility, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s attempt to lower fees in the mutual fund industry may be progressing, The New York Times reports.

The largest public pension plan in the world is discussing whether it should invest in hedge funds and other high-yielding investment vehicles, Financial Times reports.

Most investors believe that companies operating in a socially responsible manner not only pose a lower investment risk, but that they also provide higher returns on investment, according to a recent survey.

Last week, as news broke that Putnam Investments told the Boilermakers Union to take its money elsewhere, it was reported that both Federal Reserve employees as well as Eric Zitzewitz, the Stanford University professor who researched and wrote a highly publicized report on the effects of market timing, were both guilty of the rapid in-and-out trading method.

Not all scandals are created equal. As such, Invesco Funds is apparently digging in its heels and preparing for a dogfight with regulators, a stark contrast to the "yes siring" going on at firms accused of more outrageous activities.

Investing in sin stocks- is it naughty or just vice? Bill Van Alen, president and CEO of the Noah Fund, a Biblical-values based fund, believes people should invest according to their religious beliefs, while Dan Ahrens, co-portfolio manager of the Vice Fund and author of "Investing in Vice: The Recession-Proof Portfolio of Booze, Bets, Bombs, and Butts," thinks money is the bottom line for investors.

Transparency, efficiency and low account minimums.

Nicole McDermott, former senior vice president of corporate services at Security Trust Co., pled guilty to securities fraud charges for allowing hedge fund clients to trade behind the bell, NY AG Eliot Spitzer said.

Noreen Harrington, a former executive of the Stern Asset Management arm of the Hartz Group, identified herself as the initial whistleblower in the mutual fund scandal that has ravaged the industry, according to reports.

The spate of investigations into mutual fund trading practices and intense media coverage has prompted more than one-third of existing mutual fund investors to say they are unlikely to buy mutual funds any time soon, according to a survey conducted by The Lumin Collaborative, a Richmond, Va.-based PR firm. Further, 77% say they would pull their money from any fund they believed violated its fiduciary responsibility.

Buchanan Leaves Janus Sohn, Smith Promoted

While most investment management companies hunger to secure long-term relationships with clients of sizable assets, Mellon Equity Associates of Pittsburgh is happy to welcome small transitory clients looking for a comfy, but temporary, port to keep them out of a storm.

There are many laws that hold parents responsible for the willful misconduct of their children, and now it looks like Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) may have to face the music for its lack of oversight of its Putnam Investments unit.

Van Alen: At the Noah Fund, we believe that more and more investors are looking to invest in accordance with their spiritual and moral beliefs. Is it the Vice Fund's belief that investors are just looking to make a profit?

Ahrens: The Noah Fund has a 5.5% front end load, plus it has a 2.2% expense ratio. Do you think it's really socially responsible to sell this fund by appealing to someone's religious views when the expenses are so high?

Nationwide Financial Services Inc., the U.S. retirement savings arm of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., said Wednesday that President and COO Joseph J. Gasper will retire in May 2004.

It’s the same old story. Survey results prove once again that many investors haven’t gotten the point yet of financial planning and how it can help them in retirement. And the more company-sponsored surveys, like American Express Financial Advisor’s Personal Economy Study, state the obvious, the more financial advisers must keep working to get the word out.