Ex-Cardinal Health execs settle with SEC

A group of three Cardinal  Health executives have agreed to pay $245,000 in civil penalties to resolve a garden-variety financial scandal, one in which they were accused of manipulating and misrepresenting the company's financial position to meet expectations on Wall Street.

The execs in the case had been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over activities allegedly carried out between 2001 and 2004. Named in the complaint were former chief financial officer Richard Miller; former senior vice president and corporate controller Gary Jensen; and Michael Beaulieu, former senior vice president of finance for the pharmaceutical products division.

The men admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. However, perhaps the biggest financial manipulation they allegedly carried out involved hocus-pocus used to reclassify $5 billion in bulk revenue as operating revenue, which inflated revenue growth reports by 30 percent for the company's 2002 and 2003 fiscal years.

To learn more about the case:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)