Pimco’s risk management head resigns after ‘inappropriate behavior’ claim

Leader controlled risk at firm with more than $1.7 trillion in assets

Pimco’s risk management head resigns after ‘inappropriate behavior’ claim

Risk Management News

By Lucy Hook

A senior risk executive at an investment management firm with more than $1.7 trillion in assets has resigned following accusations of ‘inappropriate behavior’ at a charity event, it has been reported.

Bill De Leon stepped down from his role as head of portfolio risk management at Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco), an American bond manager, on Friday following a weeklong internal investigation.

De Leon is alleged to have ‘inappropriately touched’ a lower-ranking colleague at a charity event in New York during May 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal. The event was not hosted by Pimco, but was attended by several employees of the firm.

The executive was described as having held a “critical position” at Pimco, where he oversaw risk control in a role he had held since 2009, having joined the firm in 2007.

On Sunday, De Leon said he had resigned from the company to “spend more time with [his] family,” but refused to comment on the allegations surrounding his departure, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Pimco moved to replace De Leon on the same day as his resignation, appointing portfolio manager Sudi Mariappa, who now serves as the firm’s highest-ranking risk manager.

Mariappa is described as having spent nearly half of his 31-year career at Pimco, where he has overseen teams managing approximately $80 billion in assets. Previous employers include Salomon Brothers, Long-Term Capital Management and GLG Partners.

“Sudi has served in a wide range of risks seats globally and managed teams and processes during some of the financial industry’s most-challenging periods,” Pimco’s chief executive Emmanuel Roman and investment chief Dan Ivascyn said in a statement to employees.

 

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