• by Wayne Friedman , September 25, 2019

Media measurement company Comscore witnessed another stock decline over recent days after it was disclosed the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Serge Matta, the company’s former CEO, in a fraudulent scheme to overstate revenue by $50 million.

The SEC says Matta did this by making false and misleading statements about the company's performance during February 2014 and February 2015.

The company and Matta entered a settlement with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing.

Comscore stock was down 8% on Wednesday to $2.06 -- off 15% since the beginning of the week, and down 86% since the beginning of the year.

Comscore and Matta have agreed to settle charges with penalties of $5 million and $700,000 respectively. Matta is also reimbursing Comscore the sum of $2.1 million.

For all of 2018, Comscore’s revenue was up 3.9% to $419.5 million.

Two years ago, Comscore said it rectified concerns over accounting practices around revenue recognition, restating a few years of financial statements.  

Comscore explored a sale last year with no takers, according to reports. In March, two senior executives — CEO Bryan Wiener and President Sarah Hofstetter — departed.