Gupta agrees to $7.4M penalty

InfoGroup Inc. founder Vinod Gupta, without admitting or denying wrongdoing, agreed to $7.4 million in penalties and a ban from positions of authority in publicly traded companies in a settlement announced Monday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Vasant H. Raval, former director and audit committee chairman of InfoGroup, also agreed to a $50,000 penalty, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said, likewise not admitting wrongdoing.

Also the subject of civil lawsuits filed by the SEC in U.S. District Court in Omaha were Rajnish K. Das and Stormy Dean, former chief financial officers of InfoGroup. They were accused of rubber-stamping illegal spending by Gupta.

Dean's attorney, David Zisser of Denver, said Dean wasn't interested in a settlement.

"The complaint is totally without merit, and we are going to present that to the court," Zisser said. "Allegations are easy. Proof is going to end up a lot more challenging for the SEC in this case. . . . The SEC's theories and facts are wrong."

The SEC alleged that Gupta wrongfully obtained $9.3 million in unauthorized perquisites while chairman and CEO of InfoGroup and oversaw $9.3 million in undisclosed transactions with other companies he controlled. The other three men helped hide those transactions, the lawsuits say.

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