Litigation Releases (James Douglas Miller)

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26120 / September 23, 2024

Accounting and Auditing Enforcement No. 4523 / September 23, 2024

Securities and Exchange Commission v. James Douglas Miller

, No. 18-cv-05761 (W.D. Wash. filed Sept. 20, 2018)

SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Former CFO for Accounting Failures

On September 11, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment against defendant James Douglas Miller, the former Chief Financial Officer of Barrett Business Services, Inc. ("BBSI"), whom the SEC previously charged for his alleged role in an accounting fraud involving the company's workers' compensation expenses.

The SEC's complaint was filed on September 20, 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaint alleged that Miller made accounting entries to misclassify BBSI's expenses. These accounting entries allegedly caused BBSI to under-report its workers' compensation expenses. According to the complaint, BBSI ultimately restated its annual and interim financial reports for periods between 2011 and 2015, which had all been originally filed when Miller was the CFO.

Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Miller consented to the entry of a final judgment: (1) permanently enjoining him from violations of Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Exchange Act Rules 13a-14, 13b2-1, and 13b2-2(b); (2) permanently enjoining Miller from aiding and abetting violations of Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act and Exchange Act Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-11, and 13a-13; (3) imposing a permanent bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company; and (4) ordering him to pay a civil monetary penalty of $35,000.

The SEC's litigation was handled by Rahul Kolhatkar and Sheila O'Callaghan, both of the San Francisco Regional Office.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.