Putnam Fires Four Over Account Handling

Putnam Investments, the first mutual fund company sued for alleged fraud in the U.S. trading probe, fired four employees, including the head of its 401(k) operations, for improperly handling a retirement plan account.

The mistakes, which occurred in January 2001, led to a client loss of $1.5 million. Boston-based Putnam said it failed to alert or reimburse the customer.

“People put the interest of Putnam ahead of the client, and we aren’t allowing that to go on at Putnam,” Chief Executive Charles Haldeman said in an interview. Senior Managing Director Karnig Durgarian, the company’s chief of operations, was among those who lost his job.