SEC Files Suit Against Simpson Capital

Federal regulators filed charges against hedge fund manager Simpson Capital Management for allegedly defrauding mutual fund investors of millions of dollars in a late-trading scheme lasting more than three years.

In a civil suit, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the New York-based hedge fund, its president and owner Robert A. Simpson and its head trader, John C. Dowling, of defrauding mutual funds of more than $57 million by placing illegal late trades after the close of the market between May 2000 through September 2003.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to an SEC press release on Wednesday.

The charges against Simpson Capital add to the SEC's crusade in the mutual fund market-timing scandal that began in the earlier part of the decade. Along with Eliot Spitzer -- New York's former attorney general and now its governor -- the SEC has charged dozens of firms for abusive mutual fund trading.

The targets have included the mutual fund firms themselves, the traders and broker-dealers that assisted hedge funds and other traders in the schemes.

Simpson Capital is the investment adviser to two hedge funds: Simpson Partners and Simpson Offshore.