The Daily Caveat is written by Michael Thomas, a recovering corporate investigator in the Washington, DC-area. [More]
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11/11/2008
AOL Exec Gets a Pass From the SEC
Wells Notice Suggests Impending Revenue Recognition Settlment from GE
Former AOL Execs Charged By SEC on Billion Dollar Fraud
1/16/2008
Homestore CEO sees Conviction Overturned
AOL Exec Gets a Pass From the SEC
John Tuli can breath a sigh of relief these days, as the SEC has dropped all charges against him in connection with their long running probe into revenue inflation that took place during the AOL Time Warner merger. Several of Mr. Tuli's former colleagues at AOL have not been so fortunate. More at the WSJ.
-- MDT
9/07/2008
-- MDT
Labels: AOL, John Tuli, revenue inflation, SEC
Wells Notice Suggests Impending Revenue Recognition Settlment from GE
Given their recent love letter from the SEC, three years in to the agency's revenue recognition probe of the company, GE has announced that they've begun preliminary settlement talks and are looking to head off a potential civil complaint.
-- MDT
5/19/2008
-- MDT
Labels: auction rate securities, GE, revenue inflation, wells notice
Former AOL Execs Charged By SEC on Billion Dollar Fraud
Four former AOLers have already settled with the SEC. Four more still have a date with a New York courthouse. And just think, some called this case dead only a year or so back... (See this article for more on that score and an interesting link to yesterday's PurchasePro store.
At issue are allegations that the eight executives participated in a scheme to fluff up AOL company value in the 2000 to 2002 period. AOL got caught at the time, essentially, paying themselves for their own advertising. This allowed AOL to pump up its online advertising revenue by about $1 billion.
Thus far David Colburn, former head of the AOL’s business affairs unit; Eric Keller, a former senior manager; James MacGuidwin, former controller; and Jay Rappaport, a former senior manager have all reached a settlement on the charges against them, without an admission of guilt.
Still on the chopping block are John Michael Kelly, former CEO; Steven Rindner, former senior executive; Joseph Ripp, former CFO of the company’s AOL division; and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy.
AOL / Time Warner itself paid a $300 million settlement to the SEC back in '04-05 on a related case.
You can get details on the four and four cases, right here - straight from the SEC.
-- MDT
At issue are allegations that the eight executives participated in a scheme to fluff up AOL company value in the 2000 to 2002 period. AOL got caught at the time, essentially, paying themselves for their own advertising. This allowed AOL to pump up its online advertising revenue by about $1 billion.
Thus far David Colburn, former head of the AOL’s business affairs unit; Eric Keller, a former senior manager; James MacGuidwin, former controller; and Jay Rappaport, a former senior manager have all reached a settlement on the charges against them, without an admission of guilt.
Still on the chopping block are John Michael Kelly, former CEO; Steven Rindner, former senior executive; Joseph Ripp, former CFO of the company’s AOL division; and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy.
AOL / Time Warner itself paid a $300 million settlement to the SEC back in '04-05 on a related case.
You can get details on the four and four cases, right here - straight from the SEC.
-- MDT
Labels: accounting fraud, AOL, Freelance Security, revenue inflation
1 Comments.
An entry from the NY Times in 2002 reads that:
"A person involved in the internal investigation said that in April 2001 Mr. Ripp noticed that Mr. Keller had tried to backdate a deal with the online advertising company PurchasePro so that it would add to first-quarter results."
Keller was then put on leave and the matter investigated. I don't understand how the man who brought the issue to the Justice Department is being charged.
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"A person involved in the internal investigation said that in April 2001 Mr. Ripp noticed that Mr. Keller had tried to backdate a deal with the online advertising company PurchasePro so that it would add to first-quarter results."
Keller was then put on leave and the matter investigated. I don't understand how the man who brought the issue to the Justice Department is being charged.
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Homestore CEO sees Conviction Overturned
Some good news for Stuart Wolff, who had been looking at 15 years in prison for his role in the $70 million Homestore fraud. Not that this happened because the dude wasn't guilty. Rather, the sentencing judge had undisclosed ties to the case that should would have otherwise disqualified him. Check out details, including a link to the U.S. v. Wolff ruling via the San Francisco Gate.
-- MDT
-- MDT
Labels: accounting fraud, Homestore, revenue inflation, Stuart Wolff
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