SAExploration Accused of Accounting Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted civil prices towards SAExploration Holdings, a publicly traded seismic details acquisition company dependent in Houston, around an alleged multi-year accounting fraud that falsely inflated the company’s earnings and concealed the theft of thousands and thousands of dollars.
In a criticism submitted in the Southern District of New York, the SEC said senior executives engaged in an “elaborate, four-year-extensive fraud.” It names previous chief government officer and chairman Jeffrey Hastings, previous chief monetary officer and normal counsel Brent Whiteley, previous CEO and chief working officer Brian Beatty, and previous vice president of operations Michael Scott as defendants. It also names the spouses of Hastings and Whiteley, Lori Hastings and Thomas O’Neill, as aid defendants.
The executives allegedly entered into a collection of seismic details acquisition contracts totaling around $one hundred forty million with a purportedly unrelated Alaska-dependent company that was in reality controlled by Hastings and Whiteley. The defendants allegedly misappropriated practically $6 million from SAE and made use of the cash for a collection of round-journey transactions then stole around $6 million for on their own. Whiteley allegedly misappropriated an extra $4 million via a independent fictitious invoice plan.
The U.S. Attorney’s Business for the Southern District of New York introduced prison prices towards Hastings in a parallel action.
Hastings was arrested final thirty day period in Anchorage, Alaska. A spokesperson for the company said he was set on administrative leave far more than a year ago and then resigned.
“As alleged in our criticism, SAE’s executives intended a multi-faceted fraud that enriched executives at the expense of buyers,” Jennifer Leete, an affiliate director in the division of enforcement, said in a statement. “We will vigorously pursue wrongdoing by people and corporations who engage in fraud and mislead buyers.”
The SEC is looking for a permanent injunction towards SAE and executives, civil penalties, disgorgement and workplace-and-director bars towards the executives.