© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Sharpie markers owned by Newell Manufacturers are seen on the market in a retailer in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., February 7, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photograph
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee on Friday charged and former Chief Govt Newell Manufacturers Inc and former CEO Michael Polk with deceptive buyers about gross sales.
In a settlement, Newell and Polk, with out admitting or denying the SEC findings, agreed to pay civil penalties of $12.5 million and $110,000, respectively, the SEC stated in an announcement.
The SEC stated Newell, a Georgia-based shopper merchandise firm, and Polk, “took actions that elevated the corporate’s publicly disclosed core gross sales development in ways in which have been out of step with Newell’s precise however undisclosed gross sales tendencies, permitting the corporate to announce “sturdy” or “stable” ends in quarters it internally described as disappointing attributable to shortfalls in gross sales.”
Newell pulled gross sales ahead into earlier quarters with out satisfactory disclosure and used accounting practices that weren’t in step with Usually Accepted Accounting Rules, the SEC order stated.
These actions made the corporate’s core gross sales development look as if it was according to its targets and disadvantaged buyers of an correct image of Newell’s precise gross sales tendencies, it stated.