SEC goes after former VoIP Inc. executives

Three former VoIP Inc. executives are being targeted by the SEC for improper bookkeeping and lying to investors about the financial shape of the company.

A complaint filed Monday in Miami federal court says that between November 2004 and May 2005, ex-VoIP inc. CFO and VP of Finance Osvaldo Pitters and GM Terrell Kuykendall recorded $1.4 million in fake revenue from the alleged sale of computer hardware and fees for management services. The inflated revenue raised the company's overall figures for 2004 by 43 percent.

It is also alleged that VoIP Inc. CEO Steven Ivester knew the company was struggling and the company's actual revenues were "substantially less" than its projections, said the complaint. He didn't question the company's financial statements, but resigned in October 2005 after unloading 4 million shares of the company's stock to make a tidy $4.4 million in profits. The SEC also says he didn't file the proper paperwork.

VoIP Inc.'s financial irregularities were discovered in March 2006, resulting in the resignation of Pitters and the subsequent firing of Kuykendall in April 2006.

The SEC is seeking for the three to lose the profits they made from their actions, pay a civil penalty and permanently bar them from acting as an officer or director of a publicly held company.

For more:
- South Florida Business Journal reports. Article [1].