Xerox Confirms Meeting Between CEO, SEC’s Pitt
Xerox Corp. confirmed that its chief executive met with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey L. Pitt in December, at the same time the agency was investigating the world’s biggest copier maker for accounting fraud.
Xerox Chairwoman and CEO Anne Mulcahy requested the meeting, which took place Dec. 7, said Xerox spokeswoman Christa Carone. She declined to comment further.
The Washington Post, citing unidentified people familiar with the meeting, reported Saturday that Mulcahy brought up the probe even after being told before the meeting by SEC staff that she and Pitt couldn’t discuss it. Pitt listened and didn’t respond to her, the paper said.
The Xerox meeting may give more ammunition to critics calling for Pitt’s resignation because they claim he is conflicted by his legal work for accountants, including KPMG, before taking over as SEC chairman. KPMG was one of Pitt’s clients.
“In my judgment it is unwise for Pitt to be in such a meeting,” said Alan Bromberg, a law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who calls himself a Pitt admirer and said Pitt is the most capable man for the job.
The Post reported that an SEC lawyer advised against the meeting because it could look improper due to the probe and because the Xerox investigation focused on financial statements audited by KPMG.
“Every meeting [Pitt] has had has been within SEC ethical rules,” Christi Harlan, an SEC spokeswoman told Bloomberg News, while declining to comment on the specifics of the meeting. “There is no rule against the chairman or commissioners meeting with parties under investigation.”
A meeting Pitt had April 26 with KPMG Chairman Eugene O’Kelly has raised concern among Democratic members of Congress, who have asked Pitt to report whether ethics officials were consulted before that encounter. Pitt, a former securities lawyer, has said Xerox came up at the “perfectly benign” meeting.
A May 1 e-mail to KPMG employees from O’Kelly reported that he told Pitt the firm would fight efforts to hold it responsible for circumstances that led the SEC to fine Stamford, Conn.- based Xerox last month for inflating its profit.
