The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the now-defunct China-based advertising company, China MediaExpress, with fraud and misleading investors. The company and its CEO, Zheng Cheng, are accused of massively overstating values of cash balances to the SEC by up to 40,000 percent.
According to Chinese media reports, in 2009 the company reported it had $57 million in cash on hand when it had only $141,000. These massive overstatements allowed the company to “attract investors and raise money from stock sales.”
Zheng Cheng is also accused of offering a bribe to the external auditor investigating the company’s finances.
As of December 2012, over 45 Chinese companies were delisted from U.S. stock exchanges due to mismanagement, financial irregularities, and other compliance issues. Qiao Xing Mobile Communication Co. Ltd, a Beijing-based manufacturer of mobile handsets, was delisted from the NYSE in May 2012 and six months later was sued by an investor for providing false and misleading statements.
Other U.S.-delisted China-based firms include SinoHub Inc., China North East Petroleum Holdings Ltd., China Medical Technologies Inc., and Sino Clean Energy Inc.
Sources: Xinhua News (新华网), IFeng (凤凰网), Imeigu (i美股)
A version of this post appeared in the China Compliance Digest.
Comments are closed for this article!