The New York Department of Financial Services is leading a multistate probe that could snag a Silicon Valley startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and the rapper Nas, The Post has learned.
The probe, backed by 10 other state banking regulators and Puerto Rico, will focus on a new crop of online lender that charges people potentially usurious rates for cash in advance of their paychecks, regulators said in a press release Tuesday.
And one of the companies they’re looking at is Earnin, a Silicon Valley darling valued near $1 billion that recently attracted financial support from Nas, the Queensbridge, NY, rapper behind “N.Y. State of Mind,” a source with knowledge of the probe told The Post.
“Earnin is a community that is creating a fairer financial system that supports one another,” Nas said in announcing his “support and investment” in the company in June.
The rapper, whose real name is Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, did not return a request for comment on the probe.
“High-cost payroll loans are scrutinized closely in New York, and this investigation will help determine whether these payroll advance practices are usurious and harming consumers,” said Linda Lacewell, the New York Department of Financial Services’ Superintendent.
Regulators for Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas have also joined the probe.
Document requests have been sent to Earnin and 10 other companies, a source said.
The move grows out of an earlier DFS probe into Earnin following a March report in The Post about how the company appears to skirt lending laws by labeling interest as tips, which are optional but strongly encouraged. These “tips” can result in annual percentage rates of over 400 percent for a single cash advance.
“This is a brand new model, so we expect, and welcome questions from regulators like the New York Department of Financial Services,” according to a statement from the company.
The company has been gearing to battle regulatory and press scrutiny for months, including hiring the former DFS chief, according to former employees and a trove of internal communications obtained by The Post.
In April, Earnin CEO Ram Palaniappan hired Ben Lawsky, the former DFS superintendent who now runs a regulatory consulting group, to help the company respond to the agency, according to documents and a former employee.
Palaniappan met with Lawsky on the night of July 8, before the company sent a package of information to the DFS for its stand-alone investigation, according to a person briefed on it.
Palaniappan has also met with Jim Messina, the former campaign manager for President Obama’s re-election campaign who now runs his own strategic communications firm, internal documents show. A source with direct knowledge of the talks said the meeting was to discuss Messina’s help with upcoming regulations.
Earnin is not a Messina Group client, a spokesman said.
Palaniappan sought help from within Silicon Valley, as well.
On April 17, an investor at tech hedge fund Coatue Management introduced Palaniappan with Emil Michael, the former chief business officer of Uber who was ousted from the company after suggesting they should dig up dirt on critical journalists, and who was accused of suppressing records of a rape victim in India, documents show. Michael was later dropped as a defendant in the suit after arguing he wasn’t involved with the records.
“Building something new often requires being thoughtful about how to manage regulatory and I figured you would be one of the most experienced people at figuring this type of problem out. Any advice you can give him would be greatly appreciated!” Rahul Kishore, the Coatue manager, wrote in the introductory email.
The two have talked at least once, on May 21, for about a half hour, according to internal records. Michael recommended that he speak with another regulatory executive from Uber during the call, according to another person familiar with the call.
Representatives for Lawsky, Michael, and Coatue weren’t immediately available for comment.