SEC orders AssetMark to pay $18M in conflicts of interest case
By 
Jeff Dale2023-09-27T18:23:00
California-based investment adviser AssetMark agreed to pay more than $18 million to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding undisclosed conflicts of interest involving its affiliate’s cash sweep program and its revenue-sharing arrangements with third parties.
AssetMark agreed to pay a $9.5 million penalty and disgorgement and prejudgment interest of more than $8.8 million. The firm, a wholly owned subsidiary of AssetMark Financial Holdings, consented to a cease-and-desist order requiring it to be censured and meet certain compliance undertakings, the SEC announced in a press release Tuesday.
AssetMark breached its fiduciary duty to clients by failing to disclose its fellow subsidiary, ATC, profited from the cash sweep program, the SEC said. Further, AssetMark allegedly received support payments from certain third-party custodians without full and fair disclosure of the associated conflicts of interest.
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