Pimco suit reaches $18-million ending The New...

Pimco suit reaches

$18-million ending

The New Jersey attorney general’s office dropped its action

against Newport Beach-based Pimco on Tuesday while filing an

$18-million settlement with Pimco’s parent company, Allianz Dresdner

Asset Management of America.

A suit the attorney general filed in February alleged that Allianz

Dresdner defrauded investors by allowing client Canary Capital

Partners LLC and other affiliates to make improper trades worth more

than $4 million. The companies reportedly used a type of trading

known as market timing in more than 200 transactions between October

2001 and May 2003.

While not illegal, market timing exploits market conditions to

make money through frequent trading of mutual-fund shares, which can

skim profits from investors.

Pimco, short for Pacific Investment Management Co., has denied any

wrongdoing. In February, Pimco said an undisclosed arrangement it

made with Canary was “an isolated incident” and that it would repay

$1.6 million to stock funds affected by the 18-month trading activities.

This week Pimco heads Bill Gross and Bill Thompson said in a

statement that the dismissal of charges against Pimco “validates what

we have said publicly for months -- that we believed when all facts

were reviewed carefully against the allegations, New Jersey would

conclude no legal violations occurred and no Pimco bond fund

shareholders were ever harmed.”

The settlement requires Allianz Dresdner Asset Management and

affiliates PA Distributors LLC and PEA Capital LLC to pay $18

million, most of which is a civil penalty, and submit to management

changes and audits.

Former OCC president heads to San Diego

Former Orange Coast College President Margaret A. Gratton, who

retired two years ago, has signed a one-year contract to serve as

interim president at San Diego Mesa College.

San Diego Mesa College is one of three campuses in the San Diego

Community College District.

Gratton, 66, served as OCC’s president from 1996 to 2002 and as a

college educator for 32 years. She is the only woman president in the

college’s 56-year history.

Since retiring, Gratton has worked with OCC’s Foundation, and with

the college’s Emeritus Institute.

Gratton began her community college career in 1968 as a

composition and literature instructor at Mt. Hood Community College

in Gresham, Ore. During her final 22 years at the school, she served

in a number of administrative posts. She was the college’s associate

dean of humanities, assistant to the president for staff and

organizational development and dean of instruction.

A native of Idaho who grew up in Vancouver, Wash., Gratton earned

bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from the University of

Portland. She also received a master of science degree from

Pepperdine University in organization development.

Gratton lives in Chula Vista and will begin her new assignment

July 1.

Foundation collects

in the Albers’ name

Orange Coast College’s Foundation is collecting donations for a

memorial honoring Fran and Ila Jean Albers. Fran Albers, who oversaw

the complex effort to transform the Santa Ana Army Air Base into

Orange Coast College, died Sunday at age 84. His wife, Ila Jean, died

in February.

Checks should be written to the OCC Foundation with an

acknowledgment for Fran and Ila Albers.

Condolence cards can be sent to Karen Albers Rangitsch, 1168

Atlanta Way, Costa Mesa, 92626.