Case summary
On March 18, 2025, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions Division of Securities entered a Consent Order (S-22-3439-25-CO01) against Vanguard Marketing Corporation; The Vanguard Group, Inc., .
Order details
Order File: S-22-3439-25-CO01
Laws & Rules: WAC 460-20C-150, RCW 21.20.100, RCW 21.20.040
Penalties/Remedies:
- Cease and desist;
- Agreed remediation payments to affected Washington investors
Findings
- Vanguard Marketing Corporation failed to have an adequate supervisory system to ensure that its agents sufficiently communicated the risk that investors holding securities in taxable accounts could potentially receive significant capital gains distributions and related tax obligations.
- Vanguard Group, Inc., failed to disclose the potential for higher capital gains distributions from lowering the investment minimum of the Institutional TRFs was materially misleading to investors holding Investor TRFs in taxable accounts.