SEC Charges Trucking Executives With Accounting Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two former top executives of Indiana-based trucking company Celadon Group Inc. for their participation in an accounting fraud that inflated the company's income and earnings per share. Celadon previously agreed to settle accounting fraud charges brought by the SEC in April. The SEC's complaint against former Celadon president and chief operating officer William Eric Meek and former chief financial officer Bobby Peavler alleges that they sought to conceal losses by engaging in a scheme to buy and sell trucks at inflated prices, in some cases double or triple their fair market value. The complaint alleges that as a result of the transactions with third-party dealers, Celadon materially overstated its pre-tax income, net income, and earnings per share in its annual report for the period ending June 30, 2016, and in its subsequent public filings through the period ending Dec.