Basic Search  |  Summaries  |  Advanced Search

Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC
Current Parent Company: Allianz
Penalty: $1,024,200,000
Year: 2022
Date: May 17, 2022
Offense Group: financial offenses
Primary Offense: investor protection violation
Violation Description: The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC (AGI US) and three former senior portfolio managers with a massive fraudulent scheme that concealed the immense downside risks of a complex options trading strategy they called Structured Alpha. AGI US marketed and sold the strategy to approximately 114 institutional investors, including pension funds for teachers, clergy, bus drivers, engineers, and other individuals. After the COVID-19 market crash of March 2020 exposed the fraudulent scheme, the strategy lost billions of dollars. AGI US agreed to pay billions of dollars as part of an integrated, global resolution, including more than $1 billion to settle SEC charges and together with its parent, Allianz SE, over $5 billion in restitution to victims (see separate entry from U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York). A portion--$349.2 million--of the SEC penalty was deemed satisfied by the payments made in the SDNY case.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: agency action
Agency: Securities and Exchange Commission
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
HQ Country of Current Parent: Germany
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: financial services
Specific Industry of Current Parent: insurance
Source of Data: (click here)
Source Notes: If an online information source is not working, check the Violation Tracker Data Sources page for an updated link.
Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.