How many more of these will be found as mutual fund holders go to the cupboard and find it bare?
Monday March 26, 2:37 pm Eastern Time
Former Putnam executive convicted of fraud
BOSTON, March 26 (Reuters) - A federal jury on Monday convicted a former executive of mutual fund firm Putnam Investments of conspiracy to transfer $78,909 to a co-conspirator's account, prosecutors said.
Sentencing was set for June 20, 2001, U.S. Attorney Donald Stern said in a statement. Former Putnam vice president Paul Murphy faces up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Last year, another Putnam executive, Robin Kelly, pleaded guilty to charges in the same case.
Stern said that in the Fall of 1999, the two transferred the money from a Putnam miscellaneous internal account to an account at the Vanguard Group of Investment companies that Kelly shared with her mother.
Kelly and Murphy had agreed to split the money, but were caught before they did so.
Putnam said in a statement that it had discovered the two, fired them and alerted the FBI to the case. Putnam and Vanguard cooperated fully in the investigation, the statement said.
``We do not tolerate or condone this type of behavior and will cooperate in the prosecution of criminals to the full extent of the law,'' Putnam Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Lasser said in the statement.
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