A recent settlement between the U.S. SEC and a husband-and-wife team that ran a Chinese maker of pollution control equipment provides another shining example of how due diligence was not "do" diligence.
In this case, CEO Zou Dejun and his wife, the chairwoman, Qiu Jianping, ran Rino International, at one time worth about US$500 million on Nasdaq. It collapsed after short seller Muddy Waters accused it of claiming revenue from nonexistent contracts. More than three years ago, the company raised $100 million from American investors in a stock offering.
The S.E.C. complaint said the company kept two sets of books. The Chinese books, which the S.E.C. said were correct, showed total revenue of $31 million from the first quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of 2010. The United States books, which were used in financial statements, showed revenue of $491 million, or about 15 times as much.
Shocking! A Chinese company with more than one set of books? This surely has never happened before in China or anywhere else. Nod, nod, wink, wink.
The S.E.C. said that days after the 2009 public offering, the couple, who together controlled 65 percent of the company’s stock, used $3.5 million of the money raised to buy a home for their use in Orange County, Calif., then gave conflicting accounts to auditors regarding how the money was used. They eventually signed notes indicating that they had borrowed the money from the company. So they got caught with their hand in the company cookie jar, and the auditors did not think maybe something else is going on and just took everything else at face value? Well done to the due diligence team.
The fraud fell apart in November 2010 after the Muddy Waters research Web site, which seeks out stocks to sell short and has exposed a number of Chinese frauds, released a report saying some of the company’s reported revenue came from fraudulent contracts with purchasers. A few days later the company’s auditors, Frazer Frost, reported that Mr. Zou had admitted that some of the contracts did not exist. The auditors withdrew their previous certifications of the financial results.
Again, well done to the Frazer Frost auditors for the level of rigorousness on this one. They were clearly more concerned with getting paid than fulfilling their responsibility for investors.
On Nov. 30, the company sent a letter to the S.E.C. saying it intended “to file restated audited financial statements” for 2008 and 2009 “as soon as practicable.” It has made no such filings since, and the company’s Web site is no longer available.
Source:
"Couple Settle Fraud Case Involving Chinese Company", New York Times, May 15, 2013
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/chinese-couple-settle-s-e-c-fraud-case/
CKB Solutions is all about real solutions for the real world. To learn how we can help your business, contact Greg Kovacic in Hong Kong.
In this case, CEO Zou Dejun and his wife, the chairwoman, Qiu Jianping, ran Rino International, at one time worth about US$500 million on Nasdaq. It collapsed after short seller Muddy Waters accused it of claiming revenue from nonexistent contracts. More than three years ago, the company raised $100 million from American investors in a stock offering.
The S.E.C. complaint said the company kept two sets of books. The Chinese books, which the S.E.C. said were correct, showed total revenue of $31 million from the first quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of 2010. The United States books, which were used in financial statements, showed revenue of $491 million, or about 15 times as much.
Shocking! A Chinese company with more than one set of books? This surely has never happened before in China or anywhere else. Nod, nod, wink, wink.
The S.E.C. said that days after the 2009 public offering, the couple, who together controlled 65 percent of the company’s stock, used $3.5 million of the money raised to buy a home for their use in Orange County, Calif., then gave conflicting accounts to auditors regarding how the money was used. They eventually signed notes indicating that they had borrowed the money from the company. So they got caught with their hand in the company cookie jar, and the auditors did not think maybe something else is going on and just took everything else at face value? Well done to the due diligence team.
The fraud fell apart in November 2010 after the Muddy Waters research Web site, which seeks out stocks to sell short and has exposed a number of Chinese frauds, released a report saying some of the company’s reported revenue came from fraudulent contracts with purchasers. A few days later the company’s auditors, Frazer Frost, reported that Mr. Zou had admitted that some of the contracts did not exist. The auditors withdrew their previous certifications of the financial results.
Again, well done to the Frazer Frost auditors for the level of rigorousness on this one. They were clearly more concerned with getting paid than fulfilling their responsibility for investors.
On Nov. 30, the company sent a letter to the S.E.C. saying it intended “to file restated audited financial statements” for 2008 and 2009 “as soon as practicable.” It has made no such filings since, and the company’s Web site is no longer available.
Source:
"Couple Settle Fraud Case Involving Chinese Company", New York Times, May 15, 2013
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/chinese-couple-settle-s-e-c-fraud-case/
CKB Solutions is all about real solutions for the real world. To learn how we can help your business, contact Greg Kovacic in Hong Kong.
RSS Feed
