From Practical Accountant, June 2006:
The New York State comptroller has filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Qwest Communications International, also naming several of the telephone company’s former top executives, former directors and auditor, Arthur Andersen.
The suit alleges that Qwest’s revenue and earnings were overstated from April 1999 through July 2002, causing the pension fund to lose more than $240 million. The SEC has said that improper accounting at Qwest allowed as much as $3 billion in revenue to be improperly reported as recurring, driving up the company’s stock price while executives made millions selling off their own shares. Qwest eventually restated earnings from 2000 and 2001, erasing about $2.2 billion in revenues.
