Note the quote-love for friend of The Daily Caveat, Peter Henning of Wayne State University:

Via the Ashville Citizen Times:

...Ingles announced in December 2004 that the SEC was investigating it, and last year the company restated results for its 2002 and 2003 fiscal years and part of FY 2004. The problems, the company said last year, involved the timing of reporting of certain payments from vendors. Vendors sometimes give retailers money or credits for advertising, certain displays of their products or other considerations.

The legal purpose of a Wells Notice is to allow a company to offer information or arguments in its favor before the SEC acts, but it also often triggers negotiations for a settlement, two experts in securities law said.

“As a general rule, when a Wells Notice comes, the staff has decided,” said Mark Astarita, who practices securities law in New York and New Jersey.

Astarita and Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and former attorney at the SEC, said it is rare for information that arises once a Wells Notice is filed to change the SEC staff recommendation...

Check out the full article here...and navigate on over here to find Mr. Henning's fine blog devoted to daily happenings in the world of white collar crime.

Labels: New York AG, Peter Henning