Mormon Church, Investment Manager Pay $5 Million to Settle SEC Probe
- SEC says church was worried about consequences of disclosures
- Church ‘regrets the mistakes,’ is complying with SEC rules
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, historic Mormon Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Photographer: Rick Bowmer/APThis article is for subscribers only.
A US financial watchdog fined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm $5 million for using shell companies to avoid giving the public a clear view of a stock portfolio that swelled into the tens of billions of dollars.
The church agreed to pay $1 million, while its Ensign Peak Advisers paid $4 million, to settle the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint that they failed to file forms disclosing the church’s equity investments. Instead, Ensign Peak spread holdings among shell companies and misstated that it controlled their decisions.