BY PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
HUMAN resources and payroll startup Deel will file to dismiss a lawsuit which it said made “baseless” claims that the company facilitated money laundering.
A federal lawsuit filed in Florida claims Deel facilitated financial transfers linked to a fraudulent operation targeting elderly church members.
The lawsuit, first reported by The Information, alleges that Deel’s payment services were used to move funds for the scheme, which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says defrauded investors.
These claims have been comprehensively rejected by Deel. In a statement to AML Intelligence, the company said: “The complaint is deeply inaccurate and includes wild mischaracterizations of our business, plus discriminatory and defamatory claims about Deel’s own workers. We comply with all laws and are filing to dismiss this baseless, egregious lawsuit.”
Deel also pointed out that a co-filer of the complaint, Thomas Grady, a securities lawyer, was an early investor in Rippling, a software firm that competes with Deel. The Information also said that Grady has been reported to be an investor in Rippling.
Founded in 2018 by MIT alumni Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang, Deel provides payroll, compliance, and contract management tools for businesses hiring remote workers globally. Its platform aims to simplify cross-border hiring by handling local regulations, tax forms, and payments.
“We’ve squashed the conventional notion that there’s a particular radius in which you can attract talent,” Bouaziz said in 2020. “By bridging localized compliance and payments, we make a complex process seamless.”
Deel gained prominence in 2020 after securing $30 million in Series B funding. It was valued at $12 billion in 2024 following a $50 million funding round – more than double its previous valuation.
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