By Suzanne McGee
(Reuters) -Trustees overseeing two exchange-traded funds recently launched by startup asset management firm Azoria Capital LLC said they have voted to liquidate and terminate both the Azoria 500 Meritocracy ETF and the Azoria Tesla Convexity ETF, according to a notification filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late on Wednesday.
The board said in the filing it made the decision after “considering all relevant information, including without limitation recent litigation involving a principal of” Azoria, wording that analysts said is highly unusual.
“This almost never happens,” said Jeffrey Ptak, an analyst at Morningstar. “Liquidation notices are usually an exercise in boilerplate. Not this one.”
The Azoria Meritocracy ETF, launched in June, has about $35 million in assets; the Tesla convexity ETF, which made its debut in late September, has another $6 million.
Azoria’s founder, James Fishback, noted that while he is and has been involved in several pieces of litigation – ranging from lawsuits with his former employer, hedge fund Greenlight Capital LLC, to one Azoria filed against the Federal Open Market Committee seeking public access to a meeting by the Fed’s interest rate policy decision makers – none of these should disqualify him from overseeing the ETFs.
“This comes down to an issue of politics,” Fishback said. He said he believes the trustees object to his political views, which include opposition to DEI policies and what Fishback views as overuse of H-1B visas by American corporations.
Those trustees whose identities Reuters was able to confirm could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Azoria products were launched by Tidal Financial Group, a “white-label” provider of services to asset managers seeking assistance in launching ETFs, and the Tidal Trust III. Those services typically include forming the required independent board of trustees, he said.
Michael Venuto, co-founder and chief investment officer at Tidal, said he was not familiar with the specific reasons the trustees voted to liquidate the funds. He said Tidal still supports a number of other products with a similar political stance, including the God Bless America ETF.
(Reporting by Suzanne McGee; Editing by Chris Reese)
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