On January 30, 2012, the Commission accepted an offer of settlement submitted by Symmetry and imposed a cease-and-desist order and a civil penalty against Symmetry. The SEC found that in April 2008, "Symmetry restated its financial statements for its 2005 and 2006 fiscal years and its first and second quarters of fiscal 2007, along with selected financial data for its 2003-2006 fiscal years" on account of misstatements made by one of its subsidiaries. The SEC found that Symmetry Medical Sheffield LTD, f/k/a Thornton had "materially overstated [its] revenues and assets, materially understated its expenses, and falsified corporate books and records." As a result, the financial statements included in Symmetry's Form 10-K for 2004, 2005 and 2006 fiscal years, as well as its Form 10-Q for the first and second quarters of the 2007 fiscal year were "materially false and misleading and did not comply with [GAAP] . . . . achieved primarily by improperly and prematurely recognizing revenue, improperly capitalizing expenses, overvaluing inventory, and understating costs of goods sold." Finally, the SEC found that Symmetry failed to implement and maintain "adequate internal controls over financial reporting that were sufficient to provide reasonable assurance" that the statements were made in accordance with GAAP.

On January 30, 2012, the SEC announced that it charged four former senior executives and accountants at Thornton Precision Components ("TPC"), the British subsidiary of NYSE-listed manufacturer of medical devices and aerospace products Symmetry Medical Inc. ("Symmetry"), for their roles in an accounting fraud that was so pervasive that it distorted the financial statements of the parent company. The SEC also instituted separate settled administrative proceedings against Symmetry and its CFO Fred L. Hite, which found that Hite failed to provide an internal audit status report concerning TPC to Symmetry's Audit Committee in July 2006. Although the internal audit status report had not uncovered the fraud at TPC, it did raise the potential for deeper problems there. Hite also failed to reimburse Symmetry for bonuses, other compensation, and Symmetry stock-sale proceeds he received while the fraud occurred at the subsidiary (as required by SOX Section 304). Hite agreed to pay a $25,000 penalty and reimburse $185,000 to Symmetry. For its part, Symmetry agreed to a cease-and-desist order against future financial reporting, books-and-records and internal controls violations.