Dietary supplement developer Mannatech has fired Grant Thornton as its auditor and appointed BDO Seidman in its place after a dispute over the company's chairman.
Grant Thornton gave Mannatech's board an ultimatum: Either remove Sam Caster, the company's chairman and founder, or hire another accounting firm. The board decided to keep Caster instead.
Two months ago, however, Caster resigned as chief executive of the company after the Texas attorney general sued Mannatech for making exaggerated health claims about its products and using deceptive sales tactics. The company is also facing a class-action lawsuit in Texas.
Grant Thornton recently resigned from an engagement with another company that markets nutritional supplements, Usana Health Sciences (see
