A federal judge in New York has told a former chief financial officer of Synchronoss Technologies Inc. to return $430,000 in pay to the company. The judge said she committed securities theft by helping the software company lie about its earnings. This was a partial win for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
It was said that Karen L. Rosenberger, the company’s former CFO, tampered with the numbers to meet or beat Wall Street’s standards.
The SEC says Rosenberger and other executives at Synchronoss Technologies Inc. planned to falsely report revenue and earnings to the company by not properly recording revenue from some deals.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Rosenberger and her coworkers inflated the company’s earnings by doing things like recording revenue from deals that hadn’t happened yet and not properly recording some costs.
The SEC also said Rosenberger and her coworkers lied to investors by saying things that were not true about the company’s financial health.
The SEC said in a statement that the judge’s decision “sends a strong message that executives who commit financial fraud will be held accountable for their actions.” The SEC also said that the case against Rosenberger is part of a larger plan to protect clients and stop financial fraud.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the SEC has been under a lot of pressure to be tougher on financial crime. The decision against Rosenberger is a big win for the SEC.
The case also shows how important it is for companies to be honest about their financial success and give accurate financial reports.