Defendant Name: Penn West Petroleum Ltd.

Defendant Type: Public Company

Document Reference: LR-23993

Document Details

Legal Case Name SEC v. Penn West Petroleum Ltd., d/b/a Obsidian Energy Ltd., Todd H. Takeyasu, Jeffery A. Curran, and Waldemar Grab
Document Name Court Orders Oil and Gas Company to Pay Penalties for Accounting Fraud
Document Date 20-Nov-2017
Document Format Civil Proceeding
Case Number 17-cv-04866
Federal District Court New York, Southern District of New York
Federal District Judge Gregory H. Woods
Allegation Type Issuer Reporting and Disclosure
Document Summary According to a litigation release issued November 20, 2017: "A Canadian-based oil and gas company has agreed to pay $8.5 million in civil penalties to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2017 arising from an extensive, multi-year accounting fraud."

Disgorgement & Penalty Information

Resolutions
Enjoinment
Monetary Penalties:

Civil Penalty

Individual:     $8,500,000.00 Shared:    

Related Documents:

2017-120 28-Jun-2017 Press Release--Civil Action
SEC Charges Oil and Gas Company and Top Finance Executives with Accounting Fraud
According to the SEC: "The SEC's complaint alleges that Penn West Petroleum Ltd. ... fraudulently moved hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses from operating expense accounts to capital expenditure accounts. This alleged fraudulent movement caused Penn West to artificially reduce its operating costs by as much as 20 percent in certain periods, which falsely improved reported metrics for oil extraction efficiency and profitability."
comp-pr2017-120 28-Jun-2017 Complaint
Complaint
According to the SEC: "This action involves violations of the antifraud, recordkeeping, internal controls, and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws arising from a multi-year accounting fraud scheme orchestrated and implemented by the Defendants."
court_doc68_17-cv-04866 20-Nov-2017 Court Docket Document
Final Judgment Imposing Permanent Injunction and Civil Money Penalty as to Defendant Penn West Petroleum Ltd.
According to the SEC: "The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") having filed a Complaint and Defendant Penn West Petroleum Ltd., d/b/a Obsidian Energy Ltd. ("Defendant") having entered a general appearance; consented to the Court's jurisdiction over Defendant and the subject matter of this action; consented to entry of this Final Judgment Imposing Permanent Injunction and Civil Money Penalty ("Final Judgment"); waived findings of fact and conclusions of law; and waived any right to appeal from this Final Judgment"
LR-24195 11-Jul-2018 Litigation Release
SEC Charges Oil and Gas Company and Top Finance Executives with Accounting Fraud
On June 28, 2017, the SEC charged a Canadian-based oil and gas company and three of its former top finance executives for their roles in an extensive, multi-year accounting fraud, stating in a litigation release: "According to the SEC's complaint...they [former finance executives] manipulated the company's operating expenses in order to lower a key publicly reported metric concerning the cost of oil extraction and processing needed to sell a barrel of oil. Penn West allegedly created an internal budget target representing the amount it would improperly move in its publicly-reported financial statements and gave the illusion that it was spending less money to get oil of out the ground."

Other Defendants in Action:

Related Actions:

In the Matter of Todd H. Takeyasu, CA
In the Matter of Jeffery A. Curran, CA
In the Matter of Waldemar Grab