United States v. Block

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York criminally charged the defendant – the chief financial officer of a publicly-traded company – with intentionally misleading investors by inflating a key financial metric used to evaluate the financial performance of the firm. The financial metric at issue, adjusted funds from operation, is a non-GAAP metric designed to reflect the firm’s cash flows before, among other items, depreciation and amortization expenses and was reported in the firm’s SEC filings. Professor Allen Ferrell, an academic affiliate of Compass Lexecon, was retained by the government and provided expert testimony at the criminal trial on financial reporting and metrics. The defendant was convicted of securities fraud, two counts of filing false SEC reports, two counts of filing false certifications, and one count of related conspiracy. Professor Ferrell worked on this matter with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward Imperatore and Jason Cowley.