Mutual Fund Reputation

After this the reputation of mutual funds was contaminated.
In 2004, Invesco Funds Group was accused of being involved in securities fraud and improper trading. The founder of the company, Richard S. Strong was trading in and out for his own profit. Invesco Funds Group joined a group of investment companies sued by NY Attorney General for improper trading. The most outstanding detail of tha scandal is that Mr. Strong was said to be worth $800 million and three fourths of that were earned from the improper trading.
In 2004, well known Marsh and McLennan company was accused of price fixing, bid rigging, the use of hidden incentive fees and collusion. It settled the case paying $850 million to policyholders hurt by. Marsh and McLennan issued a public apology and even called its conduct illegal and shameful. This company is one of the largest insurers in the United States and the image of this company was tarnished in the scandal.
In 2006, there was a law suit filed against BMA Ventures, Inc. This company is a registrered investment adviser and it was accused of issuing newsletters advising that the recipients put their money in the stock of some companies. All of those stocks were penny stocks. These newsletters were fraudulent and the company was secretly selling its stock in the same companies contrary to its recommendations. This fraudulent tactics is known as a scalping scheme. This fraud resulted into astronomical profits for BMA Ventures. The company violated the anti-fraud provisions of the a number of laws and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission applied permanent injunctions against BMA Ventures and civil monetary penalties.