CEP Magazine (December 2020)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a fine of $6 million^[1] against Hewlett-Packard (HP) to settle allegations that the company inflated sales and misled investors and stakeholders. HP allegedly used a tactic to “pull in” sales it had not yet made as well as move cheap product through distributors that resold outside of their markets to inflate numbers and obscure the true state of the company. The company failed to disclose its practices, which occurred in 2015 and 2016.

“HP’s failure to disclose the foreseeable negative impact of its use of pull-ins and other sales practices created a misleading and incomplete picture of the company’ s financial condition,” said Melissa Hodgman, an associate director in the SEC enforcement division. HP also agreed to a cease-and-desist order.

1 Jonathan Stempel, “HP is fined by SEC over manipulated sales of printing supplies,” Reuters, September 30, 2020, https://reut.rs/31am9Cl.

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