Bankrate's ex-FO charged with accounting and securities fraud
Staff Writer |
A former chief financial officer for Bankrate, a publicly traded financial services and marketing company headquartered in North Palm Beach, Fl., was charged in an indictment unsealed for his alleged participation in a complex accounting and securities fraud scheme.
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Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin Greenberg of the Southern District of Florida and Inspector in Charge Regina Faulkerson of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group made the announcement.
Edward J. DiMaria of Fairfield County, Connecticut, was charged in an indictment filed in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a public company’s accountants and to falsify a public company’s books, records and accounts; six counts of false entries in a public company’s books, records and accounts; three counts of false statements to a public company’s accountants; one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud; one count of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. DiMaria, who previously worked at Bankrate’s offices in New York City, made his initial appearance earlier today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres of the Southern District of Florida and was released on bond.
The indictment alleges that between 2011 and 2014, DiMaria and his co-conspirators carried out a complex scheme to manipulate Bankrate’s financial statements and artificially inflate Bankrate’s earnings.
According to the indictment, DiMaria and his co-conspirators allegedly engaged in so-called “cookie jar†or “cushion†accounting where over a million dollars in unsupported expense accruals were left on Bankrate’s books and then selectively reversed in later quarters to meet earnings goals.
In addition, DiMaria and his co-conspirators allegedly misrepresented certain company expenses as “deal costs†in order to artificially inflate publicly reported adjusted earnings metrics, and made materially false statements to conceal the improper accounting entries from Bankrate’s auditors, shareholders and the investing public.
The indictment further alleges that while Mr. DiMaria was misleading Bankrate’s auditors and the public about the company’s financial condition he realized millions of dollars from selling his own shares of Bankrate stock.
An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. ■