Fund chiefs charged with fraud

Executives of the $63bn US money market fund whose implosion last September helped deepen the global financial crisis were charged with fraud on Tuesday by the SEC. Bruce Bent Sr, who founded the Primary Reserve fund in 1970, and his son Bruce Bent II were accused by the SEC of hiding or failing to provide key facts to investors and trustees in the two days after Lehman Brothers sought bankruptcy protection on Sept 15. The fund owned $785m in Lehman debt that became worthless as a result of the bankruptcy.