Two Wall street investment advisers that were analyzing the financial documents of a Texas medical device company Orthofix International, noticed some inconsistencies in those reports. They decided to look more closely, all based upon the publicly available submissions to the Securities & Exchange Commission, and they did some statistical modeling to help. The concluded that the numbers didn’t add up so they filed a whistleblower complaint with the Securities & Exchange Commission. This week, the SEC awarded the two analysts $2.5 million which ultimately led to a multi-million dollar settlement between the SEC and Orthofix.
Orthofix admitted in the settlement to accounting violations for improperly booking revenues tied to transactions made through its distributors and these resulted in an $8.25 penalty against the company. Orthofix also agreed to $6 million disgorgement and penalties separately. Counsel for the analysts was Jordan Thomas, of Labatan Sucharow LLP.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers nationwide including whistleblowers in the SEC whistleblower program. He can be reached at jeff@jeffnewmanlaw.com or 978-880-4758
