The Securities and Exchange Commission this month brought its first enforcement action under the vision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that bans public companies from making loans to their executives.
On Dec. 1, the Commission filed and simultaneously settled an action against the former CEO and CFO of Stelmar Shipping, a freight company based in Greece that was acquired early in 2005 by a New York-based shipholding conglomerate. Under the settlement, the CEO and CFO, both foreign nationals, agreed to cease and desist from causing any future violations of Section 13(k) of the Securities Exchange Act, the SOX provision designed to prevent executives from using company funds for personal purposes.
