On April 12, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had settled charges against five registered investment advisers for marketing rule violations. The companies settled and agreed to pay a total of $200,000 in fines, cease violating the imposed regulations, and take corrective action against their compliance policies and procedures.
According to the order, the five companies have adopted and adopted policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that hypothetical performance is related to the expected financial situation and investment objectives of each advertisement's intended audience. Hypothetical achievements were advertised to the general public on a website without implementation. Required by marketing regulations. One of the companies accused made false and misleading statements in its advertisements, promoted misleading model performance, failed to substantiate the performance shown in its advertisements, and failed to provide endorsements. It also violated the Marketing Regulations by failing to enter into written contracts with the people it had compensated. The order further states that one of the indicted advisors committed recordkeeping and compliance violations and made misleading statements to clients of a registered investment company about its performance, and that the misleading statements were submitted to the Commission. was included in the client's prospectus.
The Marketing Regulations also include definitions of what constitutes “advertisement,” requirements for endorsements and recommendations (including promoters), use of third-party evaluations, requirements for presentation and disclosure of performance information, and related documentation of books and records. Contains requirements. advertisement.
