Execs Plead Innocent to Cendant Fraud

By JEFFREY GOLD
Associated Press Writer
April 5, 2001
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Two former executives pleaded innocent Thursday to charges they falsely inflated the value of a Connecticut company involved in the merger that created Cendant Corp. (NYSE:CD - news) One of the defendants sought to have a new judge chosen for the case.

Cendant's disclosure three years ago of the accounting fraud led to a one-day, $14 billion stock meltdown and triggered a huge class-action lawsuit by aggrieved shareholders.

Walter Forbes, former chairman of Cendant, and E. Kirk Shelton, a former executive vice president, both face one conspiracy charge and one count of wire fraud, from a Feb. 28 indictment. Each charge carries up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Read this entire article at http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/010405/cendant_2.html