United Rentals Settles With SEC - ENR | McGraw-Hill Construction

Description:
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 ...

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