SEC charges Inspire Investing with making misleading statements

Regulatory news

2024-09-20 09:34:43

2250

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today charged investment adviser Inspire Investing LLC with making misleading statements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today charged Idaho-based investment adviser Inspire Investing LLC with making misleading statements and for compliance failures related to the execution of its “biblically responsible investing” strategy.

According to the SEC’s order, Inspire Investing represented that it used a data-driven methodology to evaluate companies and that it would not invest in companies that had “any degree of participation” in certain enumerated business practices that Inspire determined did not align with biblical values.

However, the SEC’s order finds, from at least 2019 to March 2024, Inspire Investing in fact relied on a manual research process and did not typically perform research on individual companies to evaluate them for eligibility under its investing criteria.

According to the SEC’s order, Inspire Investing also lacked written policies and procedures setting forth a process for evaluating companies’ activities as part of its investment process, which at times resulted in inconsistent application of its investment criteria.

As a result, Inspire Investing invested in companies engaged in activities that did not align with Inspire Investing’s own stated criteria and in which the advisory firm represented that it would not invest.

Inspire Investing consented to the entry of the SEC’s order finding that it violated the antifraud provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Inspire Investing agreed to a censure and cease-and-desist order, to pay a $300,000 penalty, and to retain an independent compliance consultant.

Maria Nikolova

Maria has been engaged in journalism for more than 17 years, providing Forex industry coverage for the past 10 years. Before joining FNG she was Managing Editor at FinanceFeeds. Prior to that, she worked at LeapRate. Maria has a Philosophy degree from the St. Kliment Ochridski university in Sofia. She has specialized in Cognitive Science in Vienna. Her interests include psychology, AI, and linguistics.