Construction Week

摘要

Construction rental giant United Rentals Inc. says it will pay $14 million to settle a lawsuit that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lodged on Sept. 8. The suit charges that the Greenwich, Conn.-based supplier engaged in a series of fraudulent accounting practices, such as interlocking sale-leaseback deals, during 2000-2002 in order to inflate its earnings. It also alleges that United, from 1997-2000, did not properly value companies that it targeted for acquisition as well as misstated its reserve funds, rental revenue, income tax and other assets. "The misconduct is troubling because it was carried out by senior officers of the company who devised sophisticated accounting transactions in order to meet Wall Street's earnings expectations," says Fredric D. Firestone, SEC associate director of enforcement. Since the probe began in 2004, United has "made a number of important changes," says Michael Kneeland, president and chief executive. United also plans to pay $27.5 million to settle a derivative class action lodged by shareholders in 2004. The company has neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in the settlements.