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.

Officials with Ancora Advisors said in a statement the violations were inadvertent, and that “no employee intended to influence a client with their personal political contributions,” and that company officials have sought the return of the contributions. The $100,000 penalty was negotiated under a settlement through which the company acknowledged no wrongdoing.

The contributions were in violation because Ancora performed work for a public university — whose board members are appointed by the governor — and a public pension system — whose board members are appointed by the governor and state treasurer — within two years of making the contributions, the SEC document said.

The filing does not identify which retirement system or which public university hired Ancora, and an SEC spokesman declined to comment. However, state records show Ancora is registered to do business with most of the major state public pension systems in Ohio, and that it has managed funds for the Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System.

In a statement provided by Jason Geers, Ancora’s chief compliance officer, the company said it began working with the SEC after discovering the problem. (Click here to read the company’s full statement.)

“During a routine inquire [sic] conducted regularly as part of our commitment to regulatory compliance, Ancora recently discovered a violation of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations regarding political contributions,” the statement said. “It was discovered that a few employee political contributions, dating back several years, exceed the $350 limit that an employee is allowed to make in certain political contests while also providing investment management services to public clients of the state in which the contest was taking place.”

“Upon discovery, we began working with the SEC to provide any necessary information to help them assess the nature of the inadvertent error. Employees [requested], and had returned, contributions which exceeded the $350 limit, however it was outside of the allowable cure period, resulting in our error. We take all compliance reporting responsibilities seriously and assume full responsibility,” the statement said.

The company has imposed additional training regarding campaign contributions to “guard against any future compliance issues,” the statement said.