Lime Energy Co. (OTCMKTS:LIME) announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has authorized the settlement between the Company and the SEC of the previously-disclosed SEC investigation commenced in 2012 into the Company’s revenue recognition practices and financial reporting from 2010 to 2012. In connection with the settlement process, the SEC filed today a complaint against the Company and four former officers in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC’s complaint, the Company consented to the entry of a final judgment pursuant to which it would pay a civil monetary penalty of $1 million, payable in 5 installments over the next 12 months, to settle the SEC’s claims against the Company. The settlement is subject to Court approval.
There will be no current period financial impact on the Company’s results, as an accrual for this amount was established and expensed in the second fiscal quarter of 2016, as disclosed in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 15, 2016.
“This settlement brings a close to a chapter that Lime Energy put behind us several years ago, a matter in which no current Lime Energy employees were involved” said Adam Procell, Lime Energy’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “While it recalls that unfortunate period of time more than 4 years ago, this settlement also causes us to reflect on all that we have accomplished since then, having built the nation’s leading provider of energy services to small and mid-sized businesses, now widely recognized for our integrity, innovation and commitment to serving our communities.”