A reduction in force, or payback for refusing to stay quiet, he asks
A former Franklin Templeton portfolio manager says he was fired under the cover of a reduction in force after reporting alleged trading fraud by his then-manager.
According to a lawsuit filed April 26, 2026 in the Southern District of New York, Jordan Strah is suing Franklin Resources, Inc., K2 Advisors, LLC, and K2/D&S Management Co., LLC under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and New York Labor Law. The case, Strah v. Franklin Resources, Inc., et al., No. 1:26-cv-03428, lands in federal court after more than 180 days passed without a final ruling on Strah's earlier complaint to OSHA.
The filing tells a story HR leaders will recognize in shape, if not in scale.
Strah claims that in June 2023, while working on the Franklin K2 Cat Bond UCITS Fund, he discovered that his then-manager was manipulating data in the fund's "rules-based" screening process to push through bond purchases that should have been flagged as a "NO BUY." He says he reported it to compliance, then to senior leaders, and that the response was less than reassuring.
According to the filing, when Strah laid out the evidence, the chief investment officer of K2 Advisors brushed it off with, "if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, sometimes it's not a duck." Strah says the head of investment management at K2 Advisors, who was also his then-manager's manager, then suggested he resign rather than see that manager...
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