Ex Nvidia CFO settles false accounting case

By Steve Malone

Posted on 12 Sep 2003 at 15:22

The former Chief Financial Officer of leading graphics chip company Nvidia has agreed to pay a US court $672,000. The settlement follows charges that she inflated Nvidia's 2000 results in order to meet analysts' expectations and buoy the share price.

Christine Hoberg, agreed to pay the fine plus 'disgorgement of ill-gotten gains' to a court in San Jose yesterday. The case was brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC).

The charges alleged that Hoberg omitted $3.3 million in expenses from the balance sheet for the quarter ended April 30, 2000 in order that Nvidia met Wall Street expectations for that quarter. During 2000, Nvidia did a deal with an un-named supplier to obtain the $3.3 millions worth of 'credits' in exchange for paying higher prices at a later date. This omission boosted Nvidia's profits by 6.4 per cent. The Nvidia share price rose $4 on the news.

Although by settling out of court, neither Hoberg or Nvidia admitted any guilt, Hoberg has been banned from serving as a company officer and director for five years. For its part, Nvidia has agreed to a 'cease and desist' order' prohibiting any future violations of certain non-fraud financial reporting, books and records' according to a company statement.