The indictment against Mr. Tournant said he had sought to obstruct the S.E.C. investigation and had repeatedly instructed one of the former portfolio managers to lie to investigators.
Mr. Tournant, 55, voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Denver on Tuesday morning, according to a spokesman for Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. A lawyer for Mr. Tournant, Dan Alonso, could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a statement, Allianz said the misconduct was “limited to a handful of individuals” who were no longer employed by the company.
Representatives of the firm were expected to appear in federal court to enter the guilty plea for its investment arm. Mr. Bond-Nelson and Mr. Taylor, the portfolio managers who agreed to plead guilty for their role in the scheme, also agreed to settle with the S.E.C.
“Allianz Global Investors admitted to defrauding investors over multiple years, concealing losses and downside risks of a complex strategy, and failing to implement key risk controls,” said the S.E.C. chairman, Gary Gensler. “The victims of this misconduct include teachers, clergy, bus drivers and engineers, whose pensions are invested in institutional funds to support their retirement.”
The misrepresentations to investors began as far back as 2016, according to investigators. That helped the firm generate $400 million in net profits from managing the funds and large bonuses for the former portfolio managers.
A statement of facts, which is part of the plea documents by Allianz’s investment firm, said the firm “made false and misleading statements to current and prospective investors that substantially understated the risks being taken by the funds, and also overstated the level of independent risk oversight over the funds.”
A pitchbook prepared for investors misrepresented steps the fund had taken to hedge its investments against losses, authorities said. The portfolio managers also “smoothed” the returns generated by the funds to make their performance look more predictable.
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