#Seattle #Comscore Fair Fund #SEC Claims #Matta Settlement

SEC Announces Distribution Payments for Comscore Investors

In a significant move for investors in Comscore, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has initiated a process for distributing payments from a recently established Fair Fund. This fund totals $5.7 million and is available to those who purchased Comscore common stock, trading under the symbol SCOR, between February 20, 2014, and March 23, 2018, and incurred losses during that period.

Background of the SEC Orders

On September 24, 2019, the SEC released orders that instituted and settled separate but related cease-and-desist proceedings against former Comscore CEO, Serge Matta, and the company itself. The SEC found that from February 2014 to February 2018, Comscore significantly overstated its revenues by approximately $43 million. This was a result of a fraudulent scheme that involved improper accounting practices and manipulation of both non-monetary and monetary contracts. These actions were designed to portray consistent growth, allowing the company to meet analysts' revenue expectations for an unbroken series of seven quarters.

Additionally, between April 2014 and February 2016, misleading statements regarding critical performance metrics were also made by Matta and the company. Consequently, both Comscore and Matta faced penalties imposed by the SEC due to their violations of federal securities laws.

Financial Penalties and Fair Fund Creation

In the orders issued by the commission, Comscore was ordered to pay $5 million, while Matta was fined $700,000. The total $5.7 million will be part of the Fair Fund created under Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This legislation allows for penalties collected to be distributed among the investors who have incurred losses.

On April 27, 2023, the SEC issued an order consolidating these penalties into the