Denver Investment Adviser Settles Charges for Disclosure Failures
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING
File No. 3-20105
September 30, 2020 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Transamerica Asset Management, Inc., a registered investment adviser based in Denver, Colorado, for making misrepresentations regarding expenses charged by four money market funds that TAM managed.
According to the SEC's order, from January 2016 through February 2019, TAM required four money market funds that it managed to reimburse fees and expenses that TAM had previously waived, which caused those funds to incur approximately $5.2 million in additional expenses. As set forth in the order, TAM omitted the additional expenses from a description of the annual operating expenses in the funds' prospectuses, thereby materially misstating the expenses that investors paid when buying and holding shares of the funds.
The SEC's order finds that TAM violated Section 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rules 206(4)-7 and 206(4)-8 thereunder and Section 34(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Without admitting or denying the findings in the SEC's order, TAM agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a censure, and to pay disgorgement of $5,258,357.30 with prejudgment interest of $688,425.23, all of which TAM will distribute to affected investors in the funds. The order also finds that the SEC is not imposing a civil penalty because TAM self-reported the conduct and took prompt steps to remediate the violations.
The SEC's investigation was conducted by Noel M. Franklin of the Denver Regional Office, and supervised by Kimberly L. Frederick and Jason J. Burt.
Last Reviewed or Updated: Sept. 30, 2020