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US-GERMANY-AUTOMOBILE-RETAIL-FRAUD-BMW
BMW fined $18 mn in US over inflated sales data
NEW YORK, Sept 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US securities regulators charged BMW
with inflating its retail sales volumes to investors, fining the luxury car
company $18 million in a settlement announced Thursday.
BMW of North America, a subsidiary of the German company, provided
inaccurate and misleading information while raising $18 billion in corporate
bond offerings, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.
From 2015 to 2019, BMW relied on a reserve of unreported car sales that it
used to meet targets regardless of when the sales took place.
BMW also inaccurately designated some vehicles as sold when they had not
been, and adjusted its sales reporting calendar in 2015 and 2017 to meet
targets or bank excess sales for future use.
“Companies accessing US markets to raise capital have an obligation to
provide accurate information to investors,” said SEC enforcement director
Stephanie Avakian.
“Through its repeated disclosure failures, BMW misled investors about its
US retail sales performance and customer demand for BMW vehicles in the US
market while raising capital in the US.”
BMW said it was “pleased” to resolve the matter, noting in a statement that
the SEC had praised the automaker for cooperating with the probe.
“Much of the conduct at issue in the SEC settlement occurred over three
years ago,” BMW said. “The order is based on US securities laws which can be
satisfied by negligence. There is no allegation or finding in the order that
any BMW entity engaged in intentional misconduct.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0938 hrs