U.S. SEC to fine Canada's Nortel over accounting fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will fine Canadian telecommunications-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. as much as 100 million dollars for accounting fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The report said the SEC started a civil investigation into Nortel's accounting in 2004. Nortel restated its financial results in 2005, admitting that it had overstated revenue by 3.4 billion dollars.

The SEC is suing former Nortel Chief Executive Officer Frank Dunn and three other former executives, accusing them of manipulating earnings from 2000 to 2004 to meet analysts' expectations and boost bonus payments, said the report.

The Ontario Securities Commission conducted a parallel investigation but settled with the Toronto-based Nortel two weeks ago. Nortel didn't admit or deny any wrongdoing but paid 940,000 dollars to cover the cost of the investigation.

Source: Xinhua