ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Miller Energy Resources Inc. and two of its former executives have been charged with inflating the values of the company’s oil and gas properties in Alaska by more than $400 million.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the charges Thursday against the company’s former Chief Financial Officer Paul Boyd and its most recent CEO David Hall. Carlton Vogt, an accountant from New York, was also charged for his role in auditing the company and failing to comply with accounting standards, reported The Peninsula Clarion (https://bit.ly/1INjACp).
The Houston-based company, which manages its operations in Anchorage, acquired its Alaska properties for $2.25 million in 2009 and later reported them at a value of $480 million. The former penny-stock company had moved its way up to a listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to the SEC order, Boyd is alleged to have double-counted $110 million in assets already included in a reserve report.
Boyd worked as Miller Energy’s CFO and Treasurer until 2011 before becoming the director of risk management. He is no longer employed by the company as of 2014, according to the SEC filing.
Hall, who said he is no longer the company’s CEO, has denied allegations that he or anyone else at the company knowingly overstated its Alaska assets.
“I think the SEC got the facts wrong on this one,” he said. “We’ll continue to work with them and to ultimately prove that point. I’m confident and can say that I never falsified anything. We strive to be honest and full of integrity.”
According to the release, the SEC is seeking cease-and-desist orders, civil monetary penalties as well as the return of wrongly reported gains from the company. The federal agency is also seeking to bar Boyd and Hall from serving as public company officers, directors or in public company accounting.
Each of those charged in the case is required to respond to the allegations within 20 days.
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Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, https://www.peninsulaclarion.com
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