UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
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Emerging growth company
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| Item 7.01 | Regulation FD Disclosure. |
On July 2, 2024, Beneficient (the “Company”) issued a press release announcing the receipt of termination letters from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), as described below under Item 8.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K, and that, as a result, the Company requires additional time to update its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 (the “Annual Report”) and to complete its procedures related to the updated information prior to filing the Annual Report. The Company also announced the postponement of its earnings webcast and earnings release for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. A copy of the press release is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated by reference herein.
The information in this Item 7.01 (including Exhibit 99.1) is being furnished pursuant to Item 7.01 and shall not be deemed to be “filed” for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except as expressly set forth in such filing.
| Item 8.01 | Other Events. |
On July 1, 2024, the Company and Mr. Brad Heppner, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, received termination letters from the SEC advising the Company that the SEC’s investigations related to the Company and Mr. Heppner had concluded and that the SEC Staff does not intend to recommend any enforcement actions by the SEC.
| Item 9.01 | Exhibits and Financial Statements. |
(d) Exhibits.
| Exhibit No. |
Description of Exhibit | |
| 99.1 | Press Release of Beneficient. | |
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document). | |
Disclaimers and Forward-Looking Statements
This Current Report on Form 8-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this Current Report on Form 8-K that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s current assumptions and are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this Current Report on Form 8-K, please see the risks and uncertainties identified under the heading “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2023, as updated by the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended June 30, 2023, September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2023, each of which is available on the Company’s Investor Relations website at www.trustben.com and on the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this Current Report on Form 8-K. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Capitalized terms shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Current Report on Form 8-K. The termination letters were provided to the Company and Mr. Heppner under the guidelines of the final paragraph of Securities Act Release No. 5310 which states, among other things, that “[such notice] must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result from the staff’s investigation of that particular matter.”
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| BENEFICIENT | ||
| By: | /s/ Gregory W. Ezell | |
| Name: | Gregory W. Ezell | |
| Title: | Chief Financial Officer | |
Dated: July 2, 2024
Exhibit 99.1
For Immediate Release
BENEFICIENT ANNOUNCES TERMINATION OF SEC INVESTIGATION
SEC Investigation Concluded, Company to Announce New Results Call Date
Dallas, TX. – July 2, 2024 (GlobeNewswire) – Beneficient (NASDAQ: BENF) (“Ben” or the “Company”), a technology-enabled financial services holding company that provides liquidity, primary capital and related trust and custody services to holders of alternative asset, announced today the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has issued termination letters to the Company and its founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Brad Heppner, advising that the SEC has concluded the investigation and does not intend to recommend an enforcement action by the SEC under the previously issued Wells Notices.
As a result, the Company requires additional time to update its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 (the “Annual Report”) and complete its procedures related to the updated information prior to filing the Annual Report. Additionally, the Company’s earnings webcast and earnings release for its fourth quarter and Fiscal 2024 previously scheduled for July 2, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time has been postponed. The Company will make an announcement to provide the date and time of the earnings webcast and earnings release as soon as practicable.
About Beneficent
Beneficient (Nasdaq: BENF) – Ben, for short – is on a mission to democratize the global alternative asset investment market by providing traditionally underserved investors – mid-to-high net worth individuals and small-to-midsized institutions – with early exit solutions that could help them unlock the value in their alternative assets. Ben’s AltQuote™ tool provides customers with a range of potential exit options within minutes, while customers can log on to the AltAccess® portal to digitize their alternative assets in order to explore early exit opportunities, receive proposals in a secure online environment, engage custodial services for the digital alternative assets and receive data analytics to better inform investment decision making. Its subsidiary, Beneficient Fiduciary Financial, L.L.C., received its charter under the State of Kansas’ Technology-Enabled Fiduciary Financial Institution (TEFFI) Act and is subject to regulatory oversight by the Office of the State Bank Commissioner.
For more information, visit www.trustben.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
Contacts
Matt Kreps/214-597-8200/mkreps@darrowir.com
Michael Wetherington/214-284-1199/mwetherington@darrowir.com
investors@beneficient.com
Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this document and are based on our management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, assumptions, beliefs and information. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. All such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control, and could cause future events or results to be materially different from those stated or implied in this document. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, our ability to consummate liquidity transactions on terms desirable for the Company, or at all, and the risk factors that are described under the section titled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report
on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this document and in our SEC filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The termination letters were provided under the guidelines of the final paragraph of Securities Act Release No. 5310.
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