SEC Charges ex-Pareteum Officials With Falsifying Revenue Performance

Former Pareteum Chief Financial Officer Edward O’Donnell and Victor Bozzo, the now-defunct telecom company’s former chief commercial officer, engaged in a fraudulent scheme between 2018 and mid-2019 to materially overstate company revenue, alleged the SEC in a complaint Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-08543) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. The complaint alleges their misstatements resulted from improper accounting practices, where they recorded revenue for “unsupported, aspirational amounts” from nonbinding purchase orders. It additionally alleges O’Donnell acted to conceal the fraudulent practices from Pareteum’s outside auditor. O’Donnell allegedly interfered with the audit confirmation process, “inducing Pareteum customers to incorrectly confirm that they owed the amounts reflected in the audit confirmations,” despite knowing the confirmations weren’t accurate, said the complaint. “Unless the defendants are restrained and enjoined, they will engage in the acts, practices, transactions and courses of business” as set forth in the complaint, it said. Efforts to reach attorneys for O’Donnell and Bozzo were unsuccessful Friday.