Friday, April 29, 2005

Homestore's Wolff, Tafeen Charged by SEC

Westlake Village-based Homestore's ex-CEO Stuart Wolff and former executive Peter Tafeen have been charged in civil and criminal charges in the latest chapter of Homestore's 2001 online advertising revenue scandal. The two were named in an indictment by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. In addition, the SEC said that it has filed a civil lawsuit againt the two for their involvement in the sceme. The case increases to 16 the number of individuals being sued by the SEC for their involvement in the what it calls a "round trip" scheme to include its own cash as revenue. The criminal indictments against Wolff and Tafeen include 19 counts, with each defendant facing up to 185 years in federal prison. The SEC said that nine of the defendants so far in the Homestore case have pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and that the criminal case is a product of an investigation by the FBI.

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