Damian v. Deel: the Florida money-transmission suit

analysisOn 3 January 2025 Melanie Damian, the court-appointed receiver for Surge Capital Ventures LLC, sued Deel, Inc. in the federal court for the Southern District of Florida (Damian v. Deel, Inc., No. 1:25-cv-20017). She alleged that Deel processed payments and transmitted money without money-transmitter licences in Florida and other states and without effective anti-money-laundering, sanctions and know-your-customer programmes; a news outlet reported that the complaint claimed at least $2.27 million of illegal payment transactions for Surge and payments to Russia in violation of US sanctions. The complaint also named DPayments, LLC, described as an affiliated party of Deel that Deel controlled, and an individual described as its authorised person, who is not named here because the claims against him were dismissed without any finding. Surge was the subject of a separate SEC action over an alleged Ponzi scheme in which the SEC had not accused Deel of wrongdoing. ^{1 2 3}

analysisDeel denied any wrongdoing, said it had ended its relationship with Surge in 2023 and was not involved in its illegal activities, and called the suit "a coordinated effort by a major investor in Deel's primary competitor seeking to tarnish Deel's stellar reputation". On 18 August 2025 Judge Jose E. Martinez granted the defendants' motion to dismiss and closed the case without ruling on the plaintiff's allegations. ^{1 2 3}

analysisA news outlet reported that the plaintiff's lawyer, Thomas Grady, had helped set up Waveling Insurance Services, now known as Rippling, according to Florida records, and was reportedly an investor in it. Florida's register shows that Thomas R. Grady incorporated Waveling Insurance Services, Inc. on 22 August 2017, with Prasanna Sankaranarayanan as its initial president, secretary and treasurer; the filing itself names neither Rippling nor Sankar's full identity, so the link rests on a news outlet's reporting. Grady told a news outlet that Deel's motion was a "predictable response from a company operating without licenses and hoping to divert attention away from its own conduct"; Rippling declined to comment. ^{1 2}

analysisIn its later Delaware complaint Deel alleged that Grady filed the Florida suit for the receiver of victims of a consumer fraud by Brent Seaman, a fraud Deel says had nothing to do with it and in which the SEC's July 2023 complaint did not mention Deel, and that Grady did not disclose his investment in Rippling. The Delaware case ended without a ruling on these allegations. ³

analysisThe motion to dismiss was filed by Deel, DPayments and the individual defendant. The order held that the plaintiff had not shown a concrete injury giving standing and had not pleaded a RICO enterprise distinct from Deel and its affiliates; it did not address whether the allegations were true. ¹