Jason Williams filed a wrongful termination claim last year, accusing Pimco managers of verbally abusing him and cutting his pay after he objected to alleged misconduct. He was fired in March 2012, three weeks after telling the firm he had spoken with agents overseeing a U.S. bailout program and was cooperating with their inquiry, according to his lawsuit, in state court in Santa Ana, California.

Williams, whose complaint included a list of alleged wrongdoing at Pimco, withdrew the case three days after filing it, and court records don’t indicate why. He left the industry and declined to comment on the suit or why he dropped it when reached by phone in Montana, where he bought a bar.

The SEC inquiry emerged last week. The agency is examining whether the Pimco Total Return ETF, an exchange-traded fund run by Bill Gross until this month, purchased small lots of bonds at discounts, then marked them up when valuing holdings to artificially boost returns, a person familiar with the probe said Sept. 24, requesting anonymity because it’s confidential.