|
|
Matthias Knab, Opalesque: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has formally barred Gregoire P. Tournant, the former Chief Investment Officer of the U.S. Structured Products Group at Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC (AGI US), from the securities industry. The bar follows his June 7, 2024 guilty plea to investment adviser fraud in the Southern District of New York, in connection with the now-infamous Structured Alpha options strategy.
Tournant, 58, served as lead portfolio manager for Structured Alpha, a complex options strategy that AGI US marketed and sold through 17 unregistered private funds to approximately 114 institutional investors, including pension plans and other large allocators. According to the SEC's order, between 2014 and 2020 he made material misstatements to current and prospective investors and failed to disclose the true risks being taken in the portfolios.
In his plea allocution, Tournant admitted that investor communications misrepresented key aspects of the strategy's risk profile. The SEC's findings emphasize that investors were not given an accurate picture of the downside risk embedded in the options positions, nor of how the risk management and hedging components of the strategy were actually implemented in practice.
On December 4, 2025, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings and, pursuant to Tournant's offer of settlement, imposed a broad industry bar under Section 15(b)(6) of the Secur...................... To view our full article Click here
|
|