SEC Fines Software Startup Nearly $1M

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 7:00am

San Francisco-based Zenefits, a health insurance broker that makes human resources software for other startups, settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for almost $1 million late last week.

The human resources startup and its co-founder Parker Conrad have agreed to pay the fine, without admitting guilt, to settle accusations by the SEC of lying to investors and not following insurance laws.

Thursday's settlement follows separate deals with insurance regulators from 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Zenefits separately agreed to pay over $11 million in penalties to state regulators and, in a deal with its investors last year, agreed to reduce its valuation to $2 billion from $4.5 billion.

The company operates offices in Vancouver and Tempe.

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