Judge Orders Former Safety-Kleen Leaders To Pay Fines

Date: January 29, 2004

Source: News Room

A federal judge has ordered two former officers of Safety-Kleen Corp. to pay roughly $590,000 in penalties and ill-gotten gains for their role in allegedly taking part in a scheme to overstate the company's earnings by as much as $530 million. The Securities and Exchange Commission contends that Kenneth Winger, the company's former chief executive, and Paul Humphreys, the former chief financial officer, engaged in "massive accounting fraud" by overstating the company's revenue and earnings in reports filed with the SEC between 1998 and 2000. After restating its financial results for fiscal years 1997, 1998 and 1999, Safety-Kleen saw a reduction in its net income of $534 million. Under the judgment, Winger will pay about $440,000 in ill-gotten gains and fines, and Humphreys will pay more than $150,000 in penalties.

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