New economy companies face SEC probe
As many as 3,000 new economy companies are facing US Securities and Exchange Commission investigations into accounting fraud.
The financial regulator will be looking for evidence of revenue and profit manipulation, amid fears that investors might have lost as much as $100bn (Pounds 70bn) in the last eight years, due to accounting fraud, according to The Times.
IT and internet companies are expected to bear the brunt of shareholder lawsuits this year, following the collapse of share prices and a fall on the Nasdaq to levels last seen in December 1998.
Many investors feel they were deliberately misled by inaccurate accounting statements made during the IT boom of the late 1990s.
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