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SEC fines Vanguard, Empower for misleading statements, conflicts of interest

Entrance of the SEC building
Photo: Getty Images

Vanguard and Empower allegedly created conflicts of interest by incentivizing advisers to steer clients toward fee-based services, minus the requisite disclosure.

The SEC has released two (separate) cease-and-desist orders for corporate powerhouses Vanguard Advisers, Inc and Empower Financial Services and Advisory Group LLC.

Each order was completely distinct and unrelated, but the orders shared some themes; namely, not sufficiently disclosing conflicts of interest in either marketing materials or in connection with