(MONEY Magazine) – Bill Gross can't seem to stay out of the news these days. In January the top-ranked bond manager said he was so down on the bond market that he had pulled some of his own money out of his $75 billion Pimco Total Return fund. And now Gross has become entangled in the fund market-timing mess. In civil charges, New Jersey regulators accused Pimco and affiliate PEA Capital of letting the Canary Capital Partners hedge fund make quick trades in several funds, none managed by Gross. When not trading, Canary sometimes parked assets in Total Return. Gross, who is Pimco's chief investment officer, and Pimco CEO Bill Thompson said in a letter to shareholders that the firm did not violate the funds' prospectuses, that the trading "harmed no shareholders" in the bond funds and that "sometimes a cleansing process can go too far." In other news, Columbia Funds faces SEC and New York State civil charges for allowing timing in several funds, including Columbia Young Investor. They say they plan to settle. Also settling is Invesco Funds, which initially vowed to fight market-timing charges. --MEGAN JOHNSTON