A new investment consultant for the trust managing Oklahoma’s tobacco settlement fund is using the corporate ratings of a private, conservative nonprofit to determine whether the $2 billion trust’s investments conform to “Oklahoma values.”

The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Board of Investors hired Colorado-based Innovest this year, dumping longtime investment manager NEPC after a request for proposals. Board Chairman and Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ directed Innovest to review each of the trust’s 20 investment managers in what it’s calling an Oklahoma Values Alignment Assessment.

Russ said he doesn’t want the TSET trust paying fees to investment managers who don’t align with the Oklahoma economy or the state’s values. The effort goes beyond what TSET board investors have typical

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