‘What I have done was wrong,’ says auditor accused of insider trading
Scott London, the KPMG auditor accused of insider trading, said he was caught up in a federal investigation after he leaked clients’ information “in an effort to help out someone whose business was struggling.”
London told The Times that he provided the information on Herbalife and Skechers for a number of years, and that he never supplied any documents. He apologized for the leaks that ended a nearly 30-year career at the auditing giant.
Full coverage: KPMG auditor accused of insider trading
“I gave him my thoughts indicating whether the stock was a good buy or not,” London said. “Never once did I pass any documents to him, but rather we spoke on the phone and the information I provided was in the form of a suggestion. He traded on the information, but to this day I am not aware of how much he profited from the information.”
Here is his statement:
“Let me first say that I regret my actions in leaking non-public data to a third party regarding the clients I served for KPMG. Most importantly, and I cannot emphasize this enough, is that KPMG had nothing to do with what I did. The firm bears no responsibility in this matter. These actions were by my choice and mine only. These leaks started a few years back in an effort to help out someone whose business was struggling. From time to time over the last couple of years, this third party would ask me how these clients were doing. On a few occasions over the past few years, this individual would ask if he should buy or sell a stock and I gave him my thoughts indicating whether the stock was a good buy or not. Never once did I pass any documents to him, but rather we spoke on the phone and the information I provided was in the form of a suggestion. He traded on the information, but to this day I am not aware of how much he profited from the information. Regardless, what I have done was wrong and against everything that I had believed in. I spent nearly 30 years at KPMG and I dedicated my entire life to that firm. This is the main reason why this is so difficult for me to go through. Knowing that I have caused harm and embarrassment to those that I respected and admired in the firm has caused me tremendous grief that I am sure I will never overcome.
“I have embarrassed myself, my family, my friends, KPMG and those that worked with me while I was at KPMG. I want to express my deepest apologies for any harm that results to KPMG and the terrific employees and partners that I worked with. No one in the firm knew what I did. Moreover, nothing of what I did impacted how I conducted the audits of Skechers and Herbalife. With regard to Herbalife, there was no information leaked during 2012, accordingly, none of what I did had anything to do with Herbalife’s continuing battles with investors over the company’s business practices.”
ALSO:
Fired KPMG auditor of Herbalife and Skechers is identified
Skechers shares resume trading amid KPMG insider trading probe
Herbalife says KPMG ‘concluded it was not independent’ as auditor
Follow Adolfo Flores on Twitter.
