The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a motion aiming to have a CPA held in civil contempt of court for allegedly violating an injunction against him from appearing or practicing before the SEC.
The motion was filed Wednesday against Joseph S. Amundsen, who was barred in 1983 for filing misleading and materially false audit reports for a company called Olympic Oil and Gas, which included the audit reports in its SEC filings. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Amundsen agreed in February 1983 at the time to be permanently barred from appearing or practicing before the SEC and from violating the antifraud provisions of the securities laws.
However, according to the contempt motion filed by the SEC in a San Francisco federal court, Amundsen violated the terms of the injunction by repeatedly auditing the financial statements of broker-dealers that were registered with the SEC. The agency asserted that his audits of the broker-dealers violated the terms of the injunction because performing such audits constitutes practicing before the SEC as an accountant, and that he should have been aware of this.
The SEC is seeking an order finding that Amundsen contemptuously violated the 1983 injunction, requiring him to disgorge all ill-gotten gains from violating the injunction, and imposing other equitable relief. The SEC added that the injunction barring Amundsen from appearing or practicing before the Commission in any way remains in effect.
