SEC Charges Parnassus Fund Chief, 2 Trustees

San Francisco-based Parnassus Fund’s president and two trustees were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with overstating the mutual fund’s net asset value. Fund President Jerome Dodson, who denied any wrongdoing, also was charged with two other violations of securities laws. The SEC said that Dodson and trustees Marilyn Chou and David Gibson failed to accurately value the San Francisco-based fund’s holdings of thinly traded Margaux Inc. from December 1990 to January 1993. Dodson also misused research discounts and, against fund rules, loaned $100,000 of Parnassus Fund money to Margaux shortly after it filed for bankruptcy in 1989, according to SEC documents filed in San Francisco. Dodson said Georgia-based Margaux was fairly valued. The SEC also charged that Dodson and Parnassus Investments, his investment advisory firm, misused $67,000 in so-called soft-dollar credits granted to the Parnassus Fund. Dodson used the credits to buy services for Parnassus Investments rather than Parnassus Fund, the SEC said. Dodson said Parnassus Investments had repaid the soft-dollar credits in 1994 after the SEC raised questions about their use.