Accusations pile up against Calugar

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

As Massachusets Secretary of State William Galvin probes deeper into a national mutual fund scandal, the spotlight on Las Vegas broker Daniel Calugar and his defunct firm intensifies.

Gavin's lawsuit details the latest in a series of allegations against Calugar. He was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission in December with fraud for allegedly making $175 million in profit from improper trades. That lawsuit, however, only listed questionable trades with Alliance Capital Management and Massachusetts Financial Services.

Since the SEC charges were filed, Calugar and his firm have been the subject of three class-action lawsuits on behalf of investors in the Alliance and Massachusets Financial funds that were allegedly manipulated. The most recent suit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

Calugar's firm, which is now closed, had an office at 3960 Howard Hughes Parkway in midtown Las Vegas. Nevada Securities Division records show that the firm voluntarily terminated its broker license on October. The company asked the SEC to terminate its license in September.