The adviser to the Monetta Family of Mutual Funds and the company's top executive will appeal a recent Securities and Exchange Commission ruling that the firm and executives associated with the funds committed fraud.

At an upcoming roundtable on investment advisors May 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission will explore whether investment advisors should form a self-regulatory organization in the manner of the National Association of Securities Dealers, among other issues.

The SEC appears to have succeeded with its appeals to the mutual fund industry to limit redemption fees to two percent.

A written agreement that established specific guidelines on how a market timer could time investments in AIM Asset Management's funds is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the market timer against AIM's transfer agent.

BOSTON - A form of mutual fund style drift is now being examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its review of mutual funds and their performance advertising practices.

A hearing held May 1 on a request by Scudder Kemper Investments of Boston for a preliminary injunction against Robert Hoffman, Scudder's former managing director, gave no clues as to the possible outcome of pending arbitration between the two parties, according to an industry lawyer.

The SEC is looking into how fund companies process money earmarked for closed funds, said Cindy Fornelli, an advisor to Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management.

A hearing on a request by Scudder Kemper Investments of Boston for a preliminary injunction against Robert Hoffman, Scudder's former managing director, is scheduled for May 1. A hearing was scheduled after Scudder filed a complaint in U.S. District Court April 17 alleging Hoffman is violating terms of a separation agreement he signed with the firm. If issued, the injunction would prohibit Hoffman from hiring Scudder-Kemper employees or soliciting any of its clients. A temporary restraining order to prevent Hoffman from hiring Scudder employees was issued when the complaint was filed.

Mutual fund companies and registered investment advisors need to do more to monitor the accuracy of the information on their websites, according to a top SEC official.

The SEC wants to extend its campaign to eliminate legal-speak in mutual fund prospectuses to documents fund advisers file disclosing key fund information. Extending what is called "plain English" to these documents, known as Form ADVs, is likely to generate more work for lawyers and consultants and add what should be a one-time expense for fund advisers.

Regulators are continuing to warn fund companies about how they advertise their funds' performances.

It has not taken the SEC long to make sure the mutual fund industry is following the practices outlined in a letter the agency issued in December.

The Securities and Exchange Commission March 28 charged Monetta Financial Services of Wheaton, Ill. with failure to disclose initial public offering holdings in two of its funds in their quarterly statements.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The SEC expects to complete its assessment of trends in mutual fund fees and expenses by early this summer, said Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management. The SEC has completed compiling data for the study and now is working on how it will report the results, Roye said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a public roundtable on May 23 on investment advisors.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The SEC might permit an exception to its two percent cap on redemption fees, allowing closed-end funds that are converting to an open-end structure to assess a redemption charge in excess of two percent, according to Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Regulators are increasing their scrutiny of mutual fund advertising in light of fund companies' heavy promotion of their 1999 mutual funds' performances.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - The SEC's proposal to require funds to report their after-tax investment performance may prove popular with investors, but it is far from a hit with mutual fund industry lawyers.

Investment Advisers of Minneapolis, Minn. has settled a lawsuit brought against it by a would-be purchaser of a private security the firm held in its IAI Growth & Income Fund, according to a source close to IAI. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The security is now in the process of being sold.

The money management industry had become an outpost for scoundrels in the 1930s.