Former AOL, PurchasePro Execs Charged With Fraud

Two former executives at America Online were among six people charged Monday with fraud and making false statements to auditors as part of the federal government’s ongoing investigation of accounting practices at AOL.

The four other individuals charged were executives at a defunct Las Vegas-based software firm called PurchasePro. Prosecutors say the two companies entered into secret deals to help PurchasePro inflate its revenue in early 2001.

The 31-count indictment by a grand jury in Virginia charges Kent Wakeford, former executive director at AOL’s business affairs unit, and John Tuli, a former vice president in AOL’s NetBusiness unit.

The PurchasePro executives charged are former CEO Charles “Junior” Johnson; Christopher Benyo, a former senior vice president of marketing; Joseph Michael Kennedy, former chief technology officer; and Scott Wiegand, former general counsel.

Six senior executives of PurchasePro had previously entered guilty pleas.

AOL, the online unit of Time Warner Inc., agreed last month to fully cooperate with the government’s investigation.