JCOPE Announces Settlement With Uber for Under-Reporting Lobbying Expenses

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), the state’s ethics and lobbying regulator, announced that it has reached a settlement with Uber for under-reporting its lobbying expenses in 2015-16.

Uber reported $453,000 New York lobbying expenses on its July/Dec. 2015 Client Semi-Annual report.  However, the company failed to report an additional $6.3 million dollars in lobbying expenses that it incurred during that period.

According to the settlement, the company’s failure to file was the result of an oversight by the firm that that the company used to file its lobbying reports.

Uber agreed to pay JCOPE a $98,000 fine, and has since amended its lobbying reports to reflect the its actual lobbying compensation and expenses for that period.

Read the JCOPE/Uber settlement agreement here.

Read news coverage from the Albany Times Union, the State of Politics blog, Politico NY (behind a paywall), and the Buffalo News.