Wipro to pay $5 million to close six-year-old US SEC investigation

BENGALURU: Wipro said it had agreed to pay a $5 million civil money penalty to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to close a six-year old embezzlement investigation.

In agreeing to the settlement, Wipro said it neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations that it violated provisions of the Securities Exchange Act.

"Under the terms of settlement, the company consents to pay a civil money penalty of $5 million, to cease and desist from committing or causing violations of the Exchange Act and to undertake certain follow-through actions," Wipro said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Wipro said it reached the settlement because it was in the best interests of all ‘its stakeholders to resolve this prolonged matter’.

The SEC investigation began after Wipro discovered in 2009 that an employee had embezzled about $4 million from 2006 onwards. The company had publicly disclosed the embezzlement and had conducted an internal and external investigation.