U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Litigation Release No. 18773 / June 30, 2004
Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 2048 / June 30, 2004
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Dennis A. Bakal, et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Civil Action No. 1:03-CV-2909-CC
On June 22, 2004, the Honorable Clarence Cooper, U. S. District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, entered a Final Judgment as to defendant Susan P. Dial (Dial), Chief Financial Officer of Professional Transportation Group, Ltd., Inc. (Professional Transportation), a trucking business headquartered in Marietta, Georgia. The judgment enjoined Dial from further violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Sections 10(b) and 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5, 13b2-1 and 13b2-2 thereunder, and from aiding and abetting violations of Sections 10(b), 13(a) and 13(b)(2)(A) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder. Dial consented to the entry of the judgment without admitting or denying any of the allegations of the Commission's Complaint. Dial was also ordered to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $35,000, and was prohibited from acting as an officer or director of any issuer that has a class of registered securities.
The Complaint alleges that Dial and others engaged in a scheme to inflate the company's net income by recording fictitious sales revenue and recording receivables actually earned by another trucking entity controlled by Professional Transportation's majority shareholder. This scheme caused the company to fraudulently report a net profit for each quarter of 1999, instead of a net loss and cumulative net profit of $1.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2000, instead of a net loss of $1.7 million.
See also: L.R. 18388 / October 2, 2003; AAER No. 1887/ October 2, 2003; Litigation Release No. 18684 / April 27, 2004; Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 1993 / April 27, 2004