Ken Leech Concerns Were First Raised by Junior Wamco Analyst (1)

In the fall of 2023, a junior analyst at Western Asset Management Co. was allegedly befuddled by a trading allocation made by the firm’s star bond trader, Ken Leech.

According to court filings, the analyst decided to raise the issue with a more senior portfolio manager. The pair then analyzed records of Leech’s trades to try to determine why he was allocating them the way he was. Their findings eventually made their way to Wamco’s management, the SEC and Manhattan federal prosecutors.

Leech, who joined Wamco in 1990 and helped build the firm into a fixed-income giant with a ...