Lyft fined $10M for not disclosing board member’s role in pre-IPO stock sale

Ridesharing company Lyft agreed to pay a $10 million penalty to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) it failed to disclose a pre-initial public offering (IPO) stock deal that netted a member of its board millions of dollars.

Lyft agreed to cease and desist from further violations in reaching settlement, the SEC announced in a press release Monday. The stock deal involved approximately $424 million worth of private shares, roughly 2.6 percent of the company prior to its 2019 IPO.

In March 2019, an unnamed Lyft board director set up a deal for a shareholder to sell 7.7 million shares to a special purpose vehicle. The investment adviser who arranged the deal was affiliated with the board director, the SEC said in its order.