NEW YORK - July 11, 2025 (NEWMEDIAWIRE) - Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Western Asset Management Company, LLC (“WAMCO” or the “Company”), Franklin Resources, Inc. (“Franklin”), and Stephen Kenneth Leech II (“Leech”), WAMCO’s co-Chief Investment Officer until August 21, 2024 when he took a leave of absence. The action is on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased and/or otherwise acquired the following mutual fund classes between January 1, 2021 and October 31, 2023 (the “Class Period”):  Western Asset Core Bond Fund (“Core”) mutual fund classes – Class I (Ticker: WATFX), Class A (Ticker: WABAX), Class C (Ticker WABCX), Class FI (Ticker: WAPIX), Class IS (Ticker WACSX), and Class R (Ticker: WABRX) – and Western Asset Core Plus Bond Fund (“Core Plus”) mutual fund classes Class A (Ticker: WAPAX), Class C (Ticker: WAPCX), Class C1 (Ticker: LWCPX), Class FI (Ticker: WACIX), Class R (Ticker: WAPRX), Class I (Ticker: WACPX), and Class IS (Ticker: WAPSX).

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CASE

If you invested in WAMCO’s mutual funds, including in the Core and Core Plus mutual funds referenced above, and have suffered losses, you may CLICK HERE to contact us. You may also contact Kaplan Fox by emailing pmayer@kaplanfox.com or by calling (646) 315-9003.

DEADLINE REMINDER: If you are a member of the proposed Class, you may move the court no later than September 2, 2025 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the purported class.  If you have losses we encourage you to contact us to learn more about the lead plaintiff process. You need not seek to become a lead plaintiff in order to share in any possible recovery.

On August 21, 2024, Franklin disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) that Leech, the co-Chief Investment Officer of WAMCO, a subsidiary of Franklin, “recently received a Wells Notice from the Staff of the [SEC], and is on a leave of absence to focus on this matter.”  Western Asset “is also cooperating with parallel government investigations.”

Then on November 25, 2024, the SEC announced fraud charges against Leech for “engaging in a multi-year scheme to allocate favorable trades to certain portfolios, while allocating unfavorable trades to other portfolios, a practice known as cherry picking.”  The Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Leech engaged in this practice from January 2021 to October 2023.  The Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Sanjay Wadhwa, said “the scale and duration of Leech’s allegedly fraudulent conduct amounts to a shocking betrayal of his fiduciary obligations to his clients, who paid dearly for his transgressions.”

Also on November 25, 2025, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, and the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, James E. Dennehy, announced the unsealing of an indictment against Leech.  The indictment alleges that Leech assigned over $600 million of gains to favored clients and over $600 million of losses to disfavored clients.  Leech is charged with securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, commodity trading advisor fraud, commodities fraud and false statements. Leech’s alleged victims include both institutional and retail investors.

The complaint alleges, among other things, that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclosed that, (i) Defendants favored certain WAMCO strategies, like Macro Opportunities strategy, over other WAMCO strategies, like Core and Core Plus; (ii) Defendants disfavored certain WAMCO strategies, like Core and Core Plus; (iii) any "compliance policies and procedures" that WAMCO maintained "to result in fair allocations of investment opportunities to clients" were either insufficient to ensure that Leech and his WAMCO Team fairly allocated trades among the strategies they managed or were expressly disregarded by Defendants in order to allow the favoring of certain WAMCO strategies at the expense of other WAMCO strategies; and (iv) any "oversight mechanisms" that WAMCO maintained were either insufficient to monitor Leech and his WAMCO Team or were expressly disregarded by Defendants in order to allow the favoring of certain WAMCO strategies at the expense of other WAMCO strategies.

WHY CONTACT KAPLAN FOX - Kaplan Fox is a leading national law firm focusing on complex litigation with offices in New York, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey.  With over 50 years of experience in securities litigation, Kaplan Fox offers the professional experience and track record that clients demand.  Through prosecuting cases on the federal and state levels, Kaplan Fox has successfully shaped the law through winning many important decisions on behalf of our clients.  For more information about Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, you may visit our website at www.kaplanfox.com.

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If you have any questions about this Notice, your rights, or your interests, please contact:

CONTACT:
Pamela A. Mayer
KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP
800 Third Avenue, 38th Floor
New York, New York 10022
(646) 315-9003
pmayer@kaplanfox.com

Laurence D. King
KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP
1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1560
Oakland, California 94612
(415) 772-4704
lking@kaplanfox.com

Contacting or submitting information to Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP does not create an attorney-client relationship, nor an obligation on the part of Kaplan Fox to retain you as a client.
https://www.kaplanfox.com/case/western-asset-management/