The SEC has received a court order freezing the assets of Paul R. Beckwith, a 37-year old Layton, Utah, CPA, after accusing him of transferring millions of dollars from Theradoc, a company that employed him as assistant controller, to an account controlled by his CPA firm. He is also accused of investing the money in his own accounts and of altering Theradoc bank records to cover up the diversion.
According to an SEC complaint filed this week, in 2009 Beckwith transferred at least $1.85 million from Theradoc, a medication management systems company that develops hospital surveillance systems, primarily patient monitoring software systems, to accounts controlled by Beckwith CPAs. He regularly withdrew funds early in the month, and then repaid them by the end of the month.
After Theradoc's acquisition from Hospira in December 2009, he continued his deception, withdrawing $3 million from February through September. In the last six weeks he withdrew $1.3 million and has not repaid it. The $3 million was transferred from the firm to his personal checking and savings account which was then invested with a broker-dealer. While Beckwith allegedly repaid the funds from trading profits, he recently had suffered losses. Beckwith also tried to cover up the scheme by providing Hospira's accountants with bank records that deleted his withdrawals and deposits.
The SEC asks to court to impose civil penalties and order the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, along with prejudgment interest. It is also requesting the court to bar Beckwith and his firm from destroying or altering records related to the case, from disposing of assets and placing his assets in trust for use in paying penalties and fees.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
