Reply #5: Amerindo Fund managers ousted for defrauding investors

[UpInArms]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B5C9802BF%2DDF4D%2D47D6%2DB9B0%2D4954328F1C65%7D&siteid=mktw

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Legal troubles for Alberto Vilar and Gary Tanaka are evidently just beginning, but investors in their technology-stock mutual fund are long suffering.

Vilar and Tanaka were removed as managers of the Amerindo Technology D Fund (ATCHX: news, chart, profile) , according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday. The fund board's action on Friday came one day after the two men were arrested on federal charges of defrauding investors and stealing $5 million from an unnamed client. See related story.

The board also shut the fund to new investment and launched a search for a new manager to run the troubled portfolio.

Morningstar Inc. isn't waiting for further developments. On Tuesday, the influential investment research firm advised Amerindo Technology shareholders to sell.

"Charges of fraud against Amerindo Technology's managers are just the most obvious reason to avoid it," said analyst Dan Lefkovitz in a written report. "We're worried that impending redemptions will only exacerbate the fund's problems by forcing it to sell out of positions."

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