The defendant accountant was the Chief Financial Officer for the Commercial Vehicle Section of an international manufacturing corporation. He was originally threatened with a federal criminal indictment for accounting fraud. The government was persuaded to abandon their effort to indict him.
Thereafter, the Securities and Exchange Commission initiated civil proceedings against the accountant for fraud and several other employees of the corporation including the CEO and the CFO. A Consent Judgment was ultimately reached with the SEC wherein the defendant neither admitted or denied liability.
Thereafter the accountant was named as a party defendant in a federal class action securities fraud case along with other corporate officers including the CEO and CFO. A federal judge dismissed the case against the accountant entirely.