SoFi Sued by SEC Over Conflicts in Proprietary ETFs

(Bloomberg) -- Federal securities regulators sued robo-adviser SoFi Wealth for failing to disclose conflicts of interests when the money manager transfered client assets from third-party exchange-traded funds into two new investment vehicles sponsored by its parent company.

The San Francisco-based fund manager transferred the assets of about 20,000 clients in April 2019 without informing them the company preferred its ETFs over competitors and used the assets to help market and add liquidity to the new funds, according to a statement Thursday from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SoFi moved client assets without properly taking into account the tax consequences for its clients, according to the SEC. 

“We’re pleased to have resolved this matter with the SEC,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “As a company, we treat compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as our top priority.”

SoFi Wealth, a unit of SoFi Technologies Inc., agreed to pay a penalty of $300,000 without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. 

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