PBHG Funds Founders Barred from Business NEW YORK (Reuters) - The founders of PBHG mutual funds agreed to pay $160 million in restitution and civil fines and to be banned for life from the securities industry to resolve allegations they facilitated improper trading in the funds, regulators said on Wednesday. Gary Pilgrim and Harold Baxter, who left the funds group a year ago, will each pay $60 million in disgorgement and $20 million in civil penalties, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement. The payouts are the largest by any individual since the mutual fund scandals erupted more than a year ago and among the largest in the history of the SEC, the agency's staff said. Pilgrim and Baxter secretly allowed improper market timing arrangements with favored clients against sharp limits set for other investors in PBHG funds, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a statement. "As founders of a company that bore their names, Mr. Pilgrim and Mr. Baxter should have set an example of integrity and fair play," Spitzer said. "Instead, they were at the center of improper conduct that deceived and harmed their clients." The fines and restitution are virtually unprecedented for individuals in civil cases, said Stephen M. Cutler, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "Along with the permanent bars, the monetary sanctions we have obtained here reflect the severity of the misconduct and the fundamental breach of duty at issue in this case," he said. The agreement with Pilgrim and Baxter comes after regulators in June announced a $100 million settlement with Pilgrim Baxter & Associates, a company the two men founded in 1982 and sold in 2000 to Old Mutual Plc (OML.L: Quote , Profile , Research ) . The firm, now known as Liberty Ridge Capital, is the investment adviser to the PBHG funds. Old Mutual said in June it will press the two founders for compensation, and said it would retain $69 million that was meant to be paid them. The firm had selectively disclosed the portfolio holdings of certain PBHG funds to facilitate hedge fund market timing strategies, Spitzer's statement said. The SEC said in a statement the restitution Pilgrim and Baxter agreed to will be paid to "injured investors." (Additional reporting by Joel Rothstein) Quelle "PBHG Funds Founders Barred from Business" : reuters.com Main page for "PBHG Funds Founders Barred from Business"