Pharmaceutical Company and Former Executives Charged With Misleading Financial Disclosures

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Bausch Health, formerly Quebec, Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals, agreed to pay a $45 million penalty to settle charges of improper revenue recognition and misleading disclosures in SEC filings and earnings presentations. Three former executives – the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and controller – also agreed to pay penalties to settle charges against them. According to the SEC’s orders, when announcing certain GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, Valeant among other things, misstated revenue transactions and included erroneous revenue allocations. For example, the order finds that, for five consecutive quarters, Valeant, former CEO J. Michael Pearson, former CFO Howard B. Schiller, and former controller Tanya R. Carro, touted double-digit same store organic growth, a non-GAAP financial measure that represented growth rates for businesses owned for one year or more.