Dive Brief:
- The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed shareholder advocacy nonprofit As You Sow last week as part of its probe into whether ESG investing violates federal antitrust laws. The subpoena summoned CEO Andrew Behar for a deposition appearance on March 28.
- The Republican-led panel, spearheaded by Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said the deposition was in response to As You Sow failing to present Behar for a “voluntary transcribed interview,” — despite several requests for one — which “impeded and obstructed” its legislative oversight efforts.
- An As You Sow spokesperson told ESG Dive that Behar had already agreed to a March 28 voluntary interview last month and the subpoena asking for his appearance on the same day was “duplicative.” “He looks forward to appearing before the Committee in Washington as previously planned,” the spokesperson said.
Dive Insight:
The probe is part of an ongoing investigation into ESG efforts led by the House committee, which separately subpoenaed As You Sow last year as well, along with the UN-backed Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, after the pair allegedly failed to sufficiently comply with a request for documents.
The committee’s March 21 subpoena to Behar said the advocacy group provided a “lackluster response” to its request for documents and provided only 958 documents as of November. Last week’s subpoena also stated the group had been issued a warning on Feb. 29 that it may be held in contempt of Congress for its “continued failure” to produce relevant documentation.
“The Committee is not persuaded by your attempt to conflate its requests for documents and testimony,” Jordan wrote. “The Committee is entitled to the information that it has requested and it will proceed to use all means at its disposal to obtain these documents and this testimony as necessary.”
The subpoena also said the committee had sought interviews with multiple As You Sow executives, including Behar, but the group only agreed to make its president and chief counsel, Danielle Fugere, available. However, the letter said Fugere testified that she “did not know, did not remember, or did not recall” the answer to questions posed to her, including those on matters she was personally involved in. Further, according to the letter, Fugere “repeatedly testified” that Behar was “personally involved in matters directly related to the Committee’s inquiry and likely possessed knowledge and information that [she] lacked,” despite As You Sow’s initial claim that Fugere was the “most knowledgeable individual regarding the Committee’s inquiry.”
Despite concerns over the legal basis and scope of the committee’s inquiry into antitrust violations, As You Sow has produced both documents and testimony to the committee since receiving its initial request last year, Behar told ESG Dive over email.
“I do not see how [ESG] is related to antitrust laws as it is a basic freedom to use all of the information available to make the best business decisions possible,” Behar said. “Using draconian state laws to suppress information has led to financial underperformance in state pension funds where anti-ESG laws are in force.”
The House Judiciary Committee also subpoenaed BlackRock, StateStreet and two other firms over their ESG practices as part of the same inquiry in December.
