Evergreen to pay $32.5 million

Evergreen Investment Management Co., a Boston-based registered investment adviser, three affiliates, and a former officer, have agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle market timing charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Evergreen and its three affiliates will pay $28.5 million in disgorgement and a total of $4 million in civil penalties after the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that certain shareholders were allowed to market-time and engage in excessive exchange activity in the Evergreen family of mutual funds. William M. Ennis, a former officer of Evergreen will pay $1 in disgorgement and a $150,000 civil penalty. The payments will be distributed under the Fair Fund provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Mr. Ennis and Evergreen agreed to the penalties without admitting or denying guilt.