Four US mutual fund advisors are to pay a total of $1.7 million in penalties to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges of failing to notify shareholders about the source of funding for distributions. AllianceBernstein, Smith Barney Fund Management and Salomon Brothers Asset Management each will pay a $450,000 fine, and Putnam Investment Management will pay $350,000, the SEC said last Friday. The SEC faulted the advisory firms for allegedly aiding and abetting disclosure violations involving distributions to closed-end fund investors. The SEC said the advisors knew the distributions were funded either wholly or partly from shareholder capital or capital gains, but failed to inform shareholders of that fact.