Anson Funds, affiliate to pay $2.25M for fund disclosure violations

A registered investment adviser and exempt reporting adviser will combine to pay more than $2 million for allegedly misleading investors about their short fund strategy and related recordkeeping violations.

Dallas-based registered investment adviser Anson Funds Management and Toronto-based exempt reporting adviser Anson Advisors were fined $1.25 million and $1 million, respectively, by the Securities and Exchange Commission for issuing misleading statements about securities that Anson Funds held short positions on, the SEC said in an administrative proceeding Tuesday.

From 2018-23, Anson Funds declined to disclose to its investors its short position strategy involved working with a short position publisher to issue “bearish” reports and social media posts about certain securities, the SEC alleged.