CompaniesBIO

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that California-based Mattel Inc. has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle charges relating to misstatements in its third and fourth quarter 2017 financial statements . Separately, the SEC is initiating litigation against Joshua Abrahams, a former audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, or PwC, to determine whether he engaged in improper professional conduct and violated auditor independence rules. According to the SEC’s order, Mattel understated the tax-related valuation allowance for the third quarter of 2017 by $109 million and overstated the tax expense for the fourth quarter of 2017 by the same amount. As a result, Mattel’s third quarter and fourth quarter 2017 net loss and net loss per share were understated by 15% and overstated by 63%, respectively. In addition, the SEC’s order finds that, at the time, Mattel had no internal control specifically related to calculating a valuation allowance. As explained in the order,...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a number of investment advisers that failed to comply with requirements relating to safekeeping client assets and/or to timely update their SEC disclosures to reflect the status of audits of financial statements for the private funds they advised. The advisers, all of which agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and pay combined penalties of over $1 million, are BiscayneAmericas Advisers L.L.C., Garrison Investment Group, LP, Janus Henderson Investors US LLC, Lend Academy Investments, LLC, Polaris Equity Management, Inc., QVR, LLC, Ridgeview Asset Management Partners, LLC, Steward Capital Management, Inc., and Titan Fund Management, LLC. According to the SEC’s orders, certain advisers failed to have audits performed or to deliver audited financials to investors in certain private funds in a timely manner, thereby violating the Investment Advisers Act’s Custody Rule, and certain advisers failed to promptly file a...