Cleveland investment firm fined $100,000 for campaign contributions that violated pay-to-play rule
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined a Cleveland investment firm $100,000 over recent campaign contributions company executives made to state officials that violated federal “pay-to-play” rules.
In a Dec. 18 administrative order, the SEC identified $46,408 in campaign contributions a company official with Ancora Advisers made between 2013 and 2017 — $24,200 given to Gov. John Kasich, $5,000 given to state Treasurer Josh Mandel and $15,208 given in 2017 to an unnamed candidate for governor.
The complaint does not identify the company official who made the contributions, but state and federal campaign finance records show Fred DiSanto, Ancora’s chairman and CEO, in recent years has given tens of thousands of dollars of contributions to Ohio politicians, including Kasich and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who ran for governor in 2017.
A different unnamed company official gave $2,500 in June 2017 to an unidentified candidate for governor.
Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/01/cleveland-investment-firm-fined-100000-for-campaign-contributions-that-violated-pay-to-play-rule.html