Charges against Droom Founder Sandeep Aggarwal dismissed by US Department of Justice

The US Department of Justice has dismissed all charges against Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Droom, against an insider trading case filed in 2013. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also reached a civil settlement with Sandeep.

The SEC had sued the entrepreneur in July 2013 because of events that took place in July 2009 when he was a Wall Street Analyst.

Sandeep was working as an analyst at Collins Stewart when he was allegedly said to be passing non-public information regarding a possible deal between Microsoft and Yahoo.

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As per the settlement with SEC, he has been “barred from being associated with any broker, dealer or investment advisor in the United States”. He also has to pay a penalty amount of $ 32,428 to the SEC.

Speaking about the Department of Justice’s dismissal of charges, Sandeep said, “I am very grateful that the US Justice system agreed that the dismissal of all charges against me was a right and just result. Now, we can put this permanently behind us and focus on implementing our long-term vision to change how automobiles are bought and sold in the 21st century.”

Sandeep began his entrepreneurial journey in 2011 when he founded Shopclues. Founded in 2014, Gurugram-based automobile marketplace Droom is preparing for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on Nasdaq, and is expected to go public in 2021.

At present, it is working towards securing its pre-IPO funding, which is expected to be in tune of $150 million. Droom claims to have an 85 percent market share in the used automobile business in India.

With its latest round of pre-IPO funding, the startup is all set to achieve the revered unicorn status. It also aims to turn profitable by November 2020 (on a monthly basis).

It is now aiming to expand its presence to Indonesia, Vietnam, and Philippines along with three nations in the Middle East in the next 15 months.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)