Aug. 28 (UPI) — The Securities and Exchange Commission said U.S. Navy shipbuilder Austal USA and its Australian parent company Austal Limited had agreed to settle charges of accounting fraud.
Austal USA, based in Mobile, Ala., agreed to pay a $24 million civil penalty for accounting fraud after the SEC charged the company with carrying out a “fraudulent revenue recognition scheme,” the SEC said .
The SEC alleged Austal USA and Austal Limited engaged in a scheme to artificially reduce the estimated cost to complete U.S. Navy projects by tens of millions of dollars when they knew the shipbuilding costs were rising and were higher than planned.
The companies agreed to permanent injunctions and the SEC plans to create a Fair Fund for distribution of the penalty to harmed investors.
Former Austal USA president Craig D. Perciavalle, former director of financial analysis, Joseph A. Runkel, and former director of the Littoral Combat Ships program, William O. Adams, were all charged with accounting fraud by the SEC in March 2023.