Wamco’s Leech Pleads Not Guilty in $600 Million Fraud Case (2)

Ken Leech, the star bond trader charged with cherry-picking winning trades for some clients, pleaded not guilty to fraud at a hearing Monday.

Leech, 70, the former co-chief investment officer at Western Asset Management Co., faces federal charges that he steered more than $600 million in gains to favored clients while forcing losses on others. Standing with his lawyers at a hearing in federal court in New York, Leech entered not guilty pleas to all of the US charges.

The criminal charges — filed in parallel with a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit — follow a bruising year ...