Defendant Name: WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc.

Defendant Type: Subsidiary of Public Company

Document Reference: 2024-173

Document Details

Legal Case Name In the Matter of WisdomTree Asset Managment, Inc.
Document Name SEC Charges Advisory Firm WisdomTree with Failing to Adhere to Its Own Investment Criteria For ESG-Marketed Funds
Document Date 21-Oct-2024
Document Format Administrative Proceeding
File Number 3-22268
Allegation Type Investment Advisers/Investment Companies
Document Summary On October 21, 2024, the SEC announced that it "charged New York-based investment adviser WisdomTree Asset Management Inc. with making misstatements and for compliance failures relating to the execution of an investment strategy that was marketed as incorporating environmental, social, and governance(ESG) factors."

Disgorgement & Penalty Information

Resolutions
Cease and Desist Order
Censured
Monetary Penalties:

Civil Penalty

Individual:     $4,000,000.00 Shared:    

Related Documents:

IA-6753 21-Oct-2024 Administrative Proceeding
rder Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist Proceedings, Pursuant to Sections 203(e) and 203(k) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and Section 9(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, Making Findings, and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order
On October 21, 2024, the SEC instituted settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc., stating: "From March 2020 until November 2022 (the “Relevant Period”), WisdomTree, a registered investment adviser to three exchange-traded funds (the “ESG Funds”) that it marketed as incorporating environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) factors, misstated to the ESG Funds’ board of trustees (“Board”) and investors that the ESG Funds would not invest in companies that were “involved in certain controversial products or activities,” including “fossil fuels” and “tobacco.” In reality, the ESG Funds invested in the securities of companies during the Relevant Period that were involved in such activities, including coal mining and the transportation of coal, natural gas extraction and distribution, and the retail sale of tobacco products."