Atlanta Firm Charged by SEC Over Public Pension Funds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced fraud charges against an Atlanta-based investment advisory firm and two of its executives for their handling of the city's pension funds for police, firefighters, transit workers and other employees. An SEC statement said Gray Financial Group steered public pension fund clients into an investment fund that did not comply with state law and collected more than $1.7 million as a result. Georgia law allows most public pension funds in the state to purchase alternative investment funds, but the investments are subject to certain restrictions that Gray Financial Group’s fund allegedly failed to meet.