Google's chief legal officer slapped with SEC fines

Google's chief legal officer was fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Thursday over accounting issues arising from when he was CFO at a former company.

David C. Drummond, former CFO of software maker SmartForce, was ultimately responsible for financial statements that overstated revenue by $113.6 million and net income by $127 million during a three and a half year period ending in mid-2002, the SEC said in a statement.

"Drummond's violations arose in part out of his failure to determine whether SmartForce was improperly recognizing revenue (which it was) on a reseller agreement," the SEC said.

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Google's chief legal officer was fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Thursday over accounting issues arising from when he was CFO at a former company.

David C. Drummond, former CFO of software maker SmartForce, was ultimately responsible for financial statements that overstated revenue by $113.6 million and net income by $127 million during a three and a half year period ending in mid-2002, the SEC said in a statement.

"Drummond's violations arose in part out of his failure to determine whether SmartForce was improperly recognizing revenue (which it was) on a reseller agreement," the SEC said.

Drummond became Google's vice president of corporate development in 2002, in addition to taking on the role of chief legal officer, according to Google's Web site. SmartForce has since merged into SkillSoft.

The SEC fined Drummond and three other former SmartForce executives a total of $2.3 million, while the company's accounting firm, Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants of Ireland, was ordered to pay $725,000 for the transgressions.

The U.S. District Court of New Hampshire also ordered three of the former SmartForce executives to pay civil fines related to the accounting charges, in a case filed by the SEC. Drummond was required to pay the highest fine among the three, $125,000. He and the two other executives neither admitted nor denied allegations in the SEC complaint, according to the statement.

Neither Google nor Drummond could be reached by phone or email for immediate comment.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.