The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with multiple infractions and fined it $1 million, the agency announced Tuesday. Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a nonprofit group operated by the church to manage its finances, is also being charged and fined. The charges levied by the SEC include “failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity investments, and … instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s investment decisions.”
Ensign Peak is being fined $4 million. Both entities have agreed to pay their respective fines. The existence of the SEC’s investigation into the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church, was first reported earlier this month. The Wall Street Journal stated that the church and its investment arm had amassed over $100 billion. The church has denied those claims but declined to give the total value of its portfolio. “We allege that the LDS Church’s investment manager, with the Church’s knowledge, went to great lengths to avoid disclosing the Church’s investments, depriving the Commission and the investing public of accurate market information,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division. “The requirement to file timely and accurate information on Forms 13F applies to all institutional investment managers, including non-profit and charitable organizations.” Also read: Already worth $19 billion, Ray Dalio will be paid ‘billions’ more after retiring from Bridgewater: report Neither the church nor Ensign Peak responded to MarketWatch’s request for comment on this story. “The church works with many government regulators to ensure w …