SEC files lawsuit against former AOL execs

The Washinton Post reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil lawsuits against eight former America Online executives, accusing them of participating in illegal accounting practices that inflated the online giant's reported revenue by more than $1 billion.
Former chief financial officers John Michael Kelly and Joseph A. Ripp, as well as several leaders of the company's dealmaking business affairs unit, were among those charged. Four of the executives agreed to settle with the agency for about $8 million, including David M. Colburn, former head of business affairs, who agreed to pay $4 million.
All four who settled agreed to do so without admitting or denying the allegations against them.
The lawsuits were the result of a drawn-out investigation by the SEC that began in 2002 after a Washington Post report by Alec Klein on a series of unconventional deals involving the online giant. In 2005, AOL's parent company, Time Warner, reached its own settlement with the SEC, agreeing to pay $300 million.
For the full story click here.
To read an businessjournalism.org interview with Klein click here.