Waste Management Settles Lawsuit

Chicago -- Waste Management has settled with a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against four former executives who were accused of accounting fraud that took place in the 1990s. The company, which was not charged in the lawsuit, will pay $26.8 million in penalities. The former executives, including former CEO Dean Buntrock, are barred from holding an executive position in a public company and will pay an additional $4 million. A fifth officer, former CFO James E. Koenig, will continue fighting the charges and did not take part in the settlement.

The SEC accused the company of fraud in 2002. The purported accounting misrepresentation cost shareholders an estimated $6 billion. In the settlement, the executives and the company admit no wrongdoing.