Irvine Man Settles Accusations With SEC

An Irvine man has settled securities regulators’ allegations that he and another executive at California Micro Devices Corp. falsified records and traded on inside information. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Deepak Kulkarni of Irvine agreed to repay $30,710 in allegedly ill-gotten gains, plus nearly $27,000 in interest and penalty charges. The other executive, Ashok Chalaka of Milpitas, Calif., agreed to repay $128,933, plus more than $82,000 in interest and penalties. They also agreed not to violate federal securities laws in the future. The case stems from 1994, when, officials say, California Micro employees falsified the electronics circuitry company’s books and records, circumvented internal accounting controls and inflated reported revenues. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm inflated fiscal 1994 earnings by booking revenue on products that it hadn’t shipped and, in most cases, hadn’t even manufactured. Kulkarni was director of international sales at Milpitas-based California Micro until he resigned in October 1994. He is no longer associated with the firm, said John Yun, a district trial counsel with the SEC’s San Francisco office. According to the SEC’s complaint, Chalaka and Kulkarni sold California Micro stock in the fourth quarter of the 1994 fiscal year, knowing the company’s reported revenue was overstated. Four former California Micro executives, including the former president and chief accounting officer, previously settled with the SEC.