Mormon Church Agrees to Pay $5 Million to Settle Charges for Covering Up Investment Portfolio

The Mormon Church agreed Tuesday to pay $5 million to settle charges involving disclosure failures and misstated regulatory filings.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment management company, Ensign Peak Advisers, failed for 20 years to file forms that would have disclosed the church’s equity investments and, instead, filed forms for shell companies that obscured the church’s portfolio, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ensign Peak agreed to pay $4 million and the church itself will pay $1 million to settle the charges.

“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 Grewal, director of the SEC 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.”

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