Thomas Fisher, et al.

U.S. SECURTIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 21603 / July 28, 2010

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Thomas Fisher, et al., 07-cv-4483 (N.D. Ill., filed on Aug. 9, 2007)

COMMISSION OBTAINS PERMANENT INJUNCTION AGAINST FORMER NICOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER THOMAS FISHER

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced today that it obtained an order of permanent injunction ("Order") against Thomas Fisher, the former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Nicor, Inc., a gas utility holding company based in Naperville, Illinois, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Fisher consented to entry of the Order that permanently enjoins him from violating Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and from aiding and abetting violations of Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, and 13a-13, and requires him to pay $825,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.

The Commission's complaint alleges that from at least 1999 through 2002, Fisher and two other senior Nicor executives materially overstated Nicor's revenues under the company's performance-based rate ("PBR") program and thereby materially overstated Nicor's financial performance. Defendants are alleged to have misrepresented Nicor's actual performance under the PBR program by, among other things, making or authorizing false and misleading statements about Nicor's performance to its investors, the public, the SEC, and the Illinois Commerce Commission. When the false and misleading statements were finally uncovered and Nicor's improper accounting was revealed, Nicor's stock dropped by over 40%.

For further information about the Commission's action in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Thomas Fisher, et al., see Litigation Release No. 20233 (Aug. 9, 2007).