SEC Chief Recuses Himself From Probe of Tech Firm

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission will have no involvement in the agency’s investigation of accounting at a company where he had served on the audit committee, the agency said Friday.

SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson recused himself under government ethics rules from the investigation into EasyLink Services Corp., a technology firm where he was a director and member of the board’s audit panel until he resigned in November 2002. He was named SEC chairman by President Bush in December 2002.

“Chairman Donaldson has not participated and will not participate in any matter before the commission involving EasyLink,” the SEC said in a statement.

The Piscataway, N.J.-based company, which provides e-mail and other services for businesses, confirmed Thursday that the SEC was examining its accounting for about $3 million in revenue from advertising barter deals in 2000. Such transactions, in which services are traded but no money is exchanged, have drawn regulators’ attention to several high-tech companies.

Gene King, a spokesman for EasyLink, said the company hadn’t received a notice from the SEC that the agency intended to bring charges.