SEC Imposes $2.5M Fine on BlackRock

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged BlackRock with knowingly providing false information about their investments in the entertainment industry.

As a result, the company has agreed to pay a fine of $2.5 million. According to the SEC, BlackRock’s Multi-Sector Income Trust (BIT) invested in the film company Aviron Group between 2015 and 2019, claiming that it was a “diversified financial services” firm.

However, this was found to be false information. The SEC stressed the importance of accurate information for investors, both retail and institutional, in evaluating potential investments.

BlackRock also made false statements about the interest rate paid by Aviron, which were later corrected in their reports from 2019 onward.

The crypto industry has been closely following BlackRock since the company announced its plan to register a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in 2023.

This move was followed by similar filings from other major financial institutions such as Valkyrie, Fidelity Investments, WisdomTree, and Invesco.