The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today settled charges against BlackRock for “failing to accurately describe investments in the entertainment industry”—with the Wall Street giant agreeing to pay a $2.5 million fine.
The charges come as the financial world awaits the results of the SEC’s review of BlackRock’s application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would be the first product of its kind in the U.S. should it be cleared for trading.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager, settled the charges without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, as is customary in such cases.
In short, the SEC alleged that from 2015 to 2019, BlackRock’s Multi-Sector Income Trust (BIT) made investments in film company Aviron Group, LLC.
BlackRock allegedly described Aviron as a “Diversified Financial Services” company—but this wasn’t accurate, says the Commission.
