Wamco’s Longtime Bond King Thrust Into Spotlight He Shunned (2)

For three decades, Ken Leech was the other Bond King, the quiet one.

While investors hung on every word of other California bond bigwigs such as Bill Gross, Leech shunned the limelight to help build Western Asset Management Co. into one of the world’s most formidable fixed-income shops, rivaling the likes of Pacific Investment Management Co. and BlackRock Inc.

On Wednesday, the very foundations of the $381 billion firm were shaking.

Wamco, a unit of Franklin Resources Inc., said it’s cooperating with investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those probes are ...