Three PIMCO group units and parent Allianz Dresdner Asset Management of America were named in a lawsuit filed today by New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey, alleging fraudulent market-timing arrangements with Canary Capital Partners. The complaint, filed in state Superior Court, claims PEA Capital, PIMCO and PIMCO Advisors Distributors allowed Canary to time trades of up to $100 million at a time, in violation of the funds' prospectuses. "The defendants bent over backwards to help this big investor profit at the expense of ordinary investors who entrusted their hard-earned savings to them," Mr. Harvey said in a news release.
Phil Neugebauer, a spokesman for PIMCO and Allianz Dresdner, said there would be no comment until officials at the firms had a chance to look at the complaint.