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Scheper Kim & Harris Hands SEC Trial Loss in Suit Against Basin Water CEO
[December 12, 2013]

Scheper Kim & Harris Hands SEC Trial Loss in Suit Against Basin Water CEO


LOS ANGELES --(Business Wire)--

Scheper Kim & Harris announces that a federal judge in Los Angeles issued a ruling yesterday dismissing all of the claims made against its client Peter Jensen, the former CEO of Basin Water, Inc., and the company's former CFO Thomas Tekulve. The ruling followed a two-week trial in which the SEC (News - Alert) accused Jensen and Tekulve of intentionally misstating Basin Water's revenues by engaging in so-called "sham" transactions. The SEC further accused Jensen of selling stock while knowing that the transactions were accounted for fraudulently.

United States District Judge ManuelReal rejected each of the SEC's contentions. In a 44-page order, the Court concluded that there was "[n]o documentary evidence or witness testimony presented at the trial [that] tended to show that any of the transactions were shams. In fact, everybody involved in the various transactions testified that they were actual, legitimate deals." The Court also concluded that the SEC failed to present evidence that Jensen or Tekulve knowingly or intentionally misled anybody or acted recklessly.



"We are pleased by the Court's judgment. We believed from the day the SEC filed its complaint that it had no evidence whatsoever of fraud or insider trading," said Jensen's lead trial counsel David C. Scheper. Scheper noted that the Court specifically found that the evidence showed Jensen and Tekulve acted with "absolute integrity, prudence, and honesty."

In addition to David Scheper, Jensen was represented at trial by Scheper Kim & Harris partners William H. Forman and Jean M. Nelson. Tekulve was represented by Carolyn Kubota and Seth Aronson of O'Melveny & Myers.



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