"PIMCO Fined $9 Million for Disclosure and Policies and Procedures Violations"

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that registered investment adviser Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) has agreed to pay $9 million to settle two enforcement actions. The first action relates to PIMCO's failure to disclose material information to investors of the PIMCO Global StocksPLUS & Income Fund (PGP) concerning its use of interest rate swaps and the impact of those swaps on the fund's dividend. The second action involves a violation​ of PIMCO's agreement with the PIMCO All Asset All Authority Fund, with PIMCO failing to waive approximately $27 million of advisory fees as required; additionally, until at least 2018, PIMCO did not have adequate written policies and procedures concerning its oversight of related fee waivers. As part of the settlement, PIMCO has since disbursed to investors the $27 million in incorrectly assessed fees plus interest and a performance adjustment. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, PIMCO was ultimately censured and agreed to pay the aforementioned penalty. The investigations that led to the two enforcement cases were conducted by Ronnie Lasky and Manuel Vazquez, supervised by Brent Wilner of the Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit and overseen by Gary Leung, Regional Trial Counsel, all in the SEC's Los Angeles office; additional assistance was provided by the Division of Economic Risk and Analysis and the examination conducted by four personnel from the SEC's Los Angeles office.