Wednesday, August 22, 2007

U.S. files fraud charges against Sentinel

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges on Monday against Sentinel Management Group Inc, the cash management firm serving the U.S. futures industry that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late on Friday.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the SEC accused Sentinel of defrauding clients by improperly commingling, misappropriating and leveraging their securities without their knowledge in violation of the Investment Advisers Act.

According to the complaint, the SEC alleged that Sentinel transferred at least $460 million in securities from client investment accounts to Sentinel's proprietary "house" account.

..."There's more going on here than simple mismanagement," Kemnitz said....

From Reuters via Conde Nast Portfolio