On April 19, 2016, the SEC instituted settled cease-and-desist proceedings against Ener1, Inc., Charles L. Gassenheimer, Jeffrey A. Seidel, and Robert R. Kamischke. According to the SEC: "Ener1, Inc. was formerly a NASDAQ-listed U.S. company that designed, manufactured, and developed lithium ion batteries for transportation, grid energy, and consumer products. Ener1 committed violations of the federal securities laws resulting in materially overstated earnings and assets for year-end 2010 as well as the first quarter of 2011. It did so by: (1) not impairing at yearend 2010 its investments in the equity of an unconsolidated related-party entity of which it had 48% voting rights; (2) improperly recognizing revenue from sales of batteries to that entity during the fourth quarter of 2010; and (3) not properly assessing the collectability of its loan and accounts receivables from that entity to determine whether those assets were impaired at year-end 2010 and end of the first quarter of 2011. Ener1 materially misstated its financial statements because its management did not appropriately analyze the impairment issues and because senior management did not communicate certain facts relevant to an impairment analysis to Ener1's accounting staff and external auditor. Ener1 lacked sufficient procedures and staff to determine the relevant U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ('GAAP') as well as accounting internal controls to obtain necessary information to apply GAAP. In the course of the foregoing, Respondents committed various violations of the federal securities law as cited herein."

On April 19, 2016, the SEC announced that it brought "a pair of financial fraud cases against companies and then-executives accused of various accounting failures that left investors without accurate depictions of company finances."