Fund management company WisdomTree will pay $4 million to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it improperly invested in fossil fuel and tobacco companies in environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds despite promising to avoid them.
According to the SEC’s order, released Monday, over two years, WisdomTree operated three exchange-traded ESG funds that invested in companies engaged in “coal mining and the transportation of coal, natural gas extraction and distribution, and the retail sale of tobacco products” despite promoting an investment strategy that avoided such investments.