SEC Silicon Valley Startup Fraud

On Apr. 2, SEC fined Silicon Valley start-up CEO $17mn for fraud.

  • Daniel Mattes CEO of Jumio, private mobile payments company charged re fraud.

Charges

  • Overstated 2014-14 revenue and sold his shares in the private, secondary market.
  • Complaint alleges he made $14mn selling shares and hiding sales from the board.
  • Falsely told an investor that he didn’t want to sell any of his shares because there
    was “lots of great stuff coming up,” and that would "be stupid to sell at this point.”
  • Restated 2015 results wiped out revenue, and after bankruptcy shares worthless.

Settlement

  • Mattes will pay $16mn in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, $640k penalty.
  • SEC settled proceeding against Jumio’s former CFO Chad Starkey for failing to take care on statements and signing transfer agreements falsely implying board approval.
  • Starkey, who sold some of his own shares in 2014, will repay $420k include interest