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Bankrate Paying $15M To Settle SEC Charges On False Results

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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami/AP) — A Florida based publisher of widely-read consumer finance data is paying a $15 million fine over federal charges of manipulating financial results.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with Bankrate Inc. Tuesday of civil charges of accounting fraud with the company and a former vice president of finance.

Bankrate, based in North Palm Beach, neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. It has agreed to refrain from future violations of the securities laws.

The former vice president, Hyunjin Lerner, is paying $180,045 to resolve allegations that he and two other Bankrate executives ran a scheme to inflate revenues and omit some expenses from reports to meet analysts' estimates for the second quarter of 2012.

The SEC is continuing the case against the two others.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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