Four years after an investment fund collapsed, taking $130 million with it, the Lutheran Church-Canada has settled the dispute, acknowledging it withheld crucial information from investors.

The investment program, administered by the Alberta-British Columbia District of the Lutheran Church-Canada, operated for over 100 years before it went into bankruptcy in 2015.

The fund was used to help build churches, schools and retirement communities, but investors were kept in the dark about the church's financial troubles, the Alberta Securities Commission says.

The ASC was called to investigate the allegations that officials withheld information about how the money was spent and the risks.

For example, investors were not told that a majority of the money was concentrated in loans for a proposed land development project that defaulted on principal payments for three years in a row, had no financial statements, had inadequate financial controls and did not have sufficient assets to cover the loans.

The agency says the Lutheran Church also didn't say anything about persistent loan defaults and cash-flow problems.

On Thursday, the ASC reached a settlement agreement with the individual respondents named in the investigation and ordered them to pay $500,000 into a fund to distribute to investors.

The individual respondents are Donald Robert Schiemann, Kurtis Francis Robinson, James Theodore Kentel, Mark David Ruf and Harold Carl Schmidt.

In addition to paying the settlement, they agreed to a ban on trading in securities in Alberta, performing any sort of duties where they advise or administer investments and consulting on the securities market in any way.

They are also responsible for ASC's legal costs of $100,000.

"The ASC is very pleased to facilitate recovery for investors through this settlement agreement," said David Linder, executive director at the ASC in a release. "With a system for distribution in place through the CCAA Monitor, and with the Court’s supervision, this settlement provides an opportunity to increase the amount available for distribution to harmed investors, many of whom are elderly, in a timely manner."

The Lutheran Church-Canada was not ordered to pay any settlement funds to ensure those corporate assets could be used to help investors recover their money.