(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church\u2019s investments, for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church\u2019s equity investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church\u2019s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak\u2019s control over the Church\u2019s investment decisions. The SEC also announced charges against the Church for causing these violations. To settle the charges, Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty and the Church agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SEC\u2019s order finds that, from 1997 through 2019, Ensign Peak failed to file Forms 13F, the forms on which investment managers are required to disclose the value of certain securities they manage. According to the order, the Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences. To obscure the amount of the Church\u2019s portfolio, and with the Church\u2019s knowledge and approval, Ensign Peak created thirteen shell LLCs, ostensibly with locations throughout the U.S., and filed Forms 13F in the names of these LLCs rather than in Ensign Peak\u2019s name. The order finds that Ensign Peak maintained investment discretion over all relevant securities, that it controlled the shell companies, and that it directed nominee \u201cbusiness managers,\u201d most of whom were employed by the Church, to sign the Commission filings. The shell LLCs\u2019 Forms 13F misstated, among other things, that the LLCs had sole investment and voting discretion over the securities. In reality, the SEC\u2019s order finds, Ensign Peak retained control over all investment and voting decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe allege that the LDS Church\u2019s investment manager, with the Church\u2019s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church\u2019s investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public of accurate market information,\u201d said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC\u2019s Division of Enforcement. \u201cThe requirement to file timely and accurate information on Forms 13F applies to all institutional investment managers, including non-profit and charitable organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ensign Peak agreed to settle the SEC\u2019s allegation that it violated Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 13f-1 thereunder by failing to file Forms 13F and for misstating information in these forms. The Church agreed to settle the SEC\u2019s allegation that it caused Ensign Peak\u2019s violations through its knowledge and approval of Ensign Peak\u2019s use of the shell LLCs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church\u2019s investments, for failing to file forms that would have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,16048,16047],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hedgeco-networks-press-releases","category-hedgeco-news","category-hedgecovest-news","category-insider-trading-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83960,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83959\/revisions\/83960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}