Three former executives at U.S. mutual fund firm Invesco Funds Group Inc. today agreed to a one-year ban from the mutual-fund industry to settle charges that they allowed “market-timing” abuses.

Timothy Miller, the former chief investment officer and a portfolio manager, and colleagues Thomas Kolbe and Michael Legoski also agreed to pay a total of US$340,000 to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission allegations. As part of the agreement, the former executives neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.

The SEC prohibited the three men from associating with an investment adviser or investment company for one year, and further prohibited Miller and Kolbe from serving as an officer or director of an investment adviser or company for three years and two years, respectively. The commission also barred Legoski from associating with any broker or dealer for one year.

The SEC found that from 2001 through July 2003, Invesco permitted select investors to make excessive exchanges and redemptions in select Invesco funds. Under some of the market timing agreements, Invesco required that the market timers invest “sticky” assets in other Invesco funds. By entering into the market timing agreements, Invesco breached its fiduciary duty to the funds it managed.

The SEC said that as Invesco’’s chief investment officer, Miller was responsible for approving the market timing agreements. Legoski was responsible for policing the funds to identify market timing activities, and he played a significant role in negotiating the agreements IFG made with approved market timers. Kolbe supervised Legoski’s activities and was also personally involved in negotiating a market timing agreement for a related offshore fund complex.