Wachovia unit to pay $40M settlement - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the companiesz of overstating the value of a mutual fund that invested primaril yin mortgage-backed securities, and then only selectively telling shareholdersz about the fund’s valuation problems. Evergreen neither admits nor deniesthe allegations. The SEC’s enforcement actiom against Evergreen andits distributor, , found that the valuee of its Ultra Short Opportunities which was consistently ranked as a high performetr in its class in 2007 and was inflated by as much as 17 perceny due to Evergreen’s alleged valuation practices.
Had Evergreen properly valued the fund, it would have rankefd near the bottom of its category duringt this time, the SEC Evergreen liquidated the fund in June 2008. According to the SEC, Evergreejn disclosed the reasons and the likelihood for additionap repricings toselect shareholders, who were then able to cash out beforer incurring any additional drop in the valuw of their fund shares. Other shareholder were left uninformed, the commissioh alleged.
“By picking and choosing to disclos negative information to some investors and not Evergreen gave certain shareholders an unfair advantage and left othersz inthe dark,” says David Bergers, directof of the SEC’s regional office in Boston. “Evergreen harmeds investors and prevented them from makinhg informed decisions by overstatinfg the value of its holdingsin mortgage-backedx securities.
” The $40 million settlement will be distributedr to Ultra Fund Evergreen is the brand name under whichu Charlotte-based conducts its investment-management Wachovia was acquired by San Francisco-based (NYSE:WFC) late last Evergreen is being merged with Wellsz Fargo Asset Management. BofA is the largest bank in Wells is the second largest inthe