A mutual fund PM claims that Fred Alger Management [see profile] fired her because she protested to the SEC about a company policy.

The Wall Street Journal's reports that former Alger Health Sciences Fund PM Roseanne Ott just filed suit against the Manhattan-based mutual fund firm, accusing the firm of "unlawful and retaliatory termination" and conducting a "harassment campaign" after she complained to the SEC about CEO Daniel Chung's policy of allowing other Alger PMs to engage in front-running Ott's fund (i.e. trading in anticipation of Ott's trades).

Ott claims Alger forced her, and only her, "to disclose and seek permission from other portfolio managers before executing trades for her fund," the Journal writes, allowing those PMs to front-run the fund. Ott told the SEC.

An Alger spokesman told the Journal that the SEC planned no action in response to Ott's attack and added that "the policy was appropriate." He countered that Alger fired Ott for absenteeism, not in retaliation for whistleblowing.

According to the Journal, the complaint is under seal. Ott PMed the fund from 2005 through January of this year. It peaked at $355 million in assets under management in 2008. The three-star fund [see Morningstar] now holds $254.9 million. Alger boasts about $17 billion in AUM. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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