Monroe Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail for Securities Fraud

MONROE, CT — A Monroe resident and the former chief financial officer of Bankrate Inc. has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of crafting an elaborate accounting and securities fraud.

Edward J. DiMaria, 53, of Monroe, was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison and ordered to repay investors more than $21 million.

Bankrate is a a publicly traded financial services and marketing company formerly headquartered in North Palm Beach, FL. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Justice Department officials working in the Southern District of Florida.

On June 28, DiMaria pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to making false statements to a public company’s accountants, falsifying a public company’s books, records and accounts, and securities fraud; and one count of making materially false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As part of his guilty plea, DiMaria admitted that between 2010 and 2014 he directed and conspired to commit a complex scheme to artificially inflate Bankrate’s earnings through so-called “cookie jar” or “cushion” accounting, whereby millions of dollars in unsupported expense accruals were purposefully left on Bankrate’s books and then selectively reversed in later quarters to boost earnings. In addition, DiMaria admitted that he conspired with other Bankrate employees to misrepresent certain company expenses as “deal costs” in order to artificially inflate publicly reported adjusted earnings metrics. DiMaria made materially false statements to Bankrate’s independent auditors to conceal the improper accounting entries, and he caused Bankrate’s financial statements filed with the SEC to be materially misstated, he admitted.

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“While serving as Bankrate’s CFO, Edward DiMaria blatantly manipulated the company’s publicly reported financial statements by repeatedly lying and directing others to lie to auditors, regulators, and shareholders,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. “The significant sentence handed down today underscores the serious nature of corporate fraud and the damage it causes to shareholders and to the public’s trust in our financial markets. The sentence also demonstrates the Department’s commitment to prosecuting corporate misconduct to the fullest extent of the law.”

Hyunjin Lerner, Bankrate’s former vice president of finance, previously pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy. Lerner was sentenced earlier this year to serve 60 months in prison.

Potential victims of the scheme can find information about their rights under relevant law at the following website: www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/edward-j-dimaria.