SEC fines Esmark, CEO combined $600K over false offer to U.S. Steel Corp.
By Aaron Nicodemus2024-09-09T18:28:00
A privately held family company and its CEO, who announced a $10 billion bid to buy U.S. Steel without having the cash on hand, will pay $600,000 in penalties to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for making materially false statements.
Pennsylvania-based Esmark will pay a $500,000 fine while CEO James Bouchard will pay $100,000 for falsely claiming the company had $10 billion available to close the deal.
“Bouchard and Esmark could not have completed the tender offer for U.S. Steel that they announced,” said Antonia Apps, director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, in a press release Monday. “Investors should be able to trust companies’ and executives’ public statements.”