DOJ targets Wolff, Tafeen

September 27, 2002

Investigation turns to two more former Homestore execs


Inman News Features

The U.S. Justice Department yesterday indicted three former Homestore executives on violations of securities law, now is building a case against Homestore's former CEO Stuart Wolff and former EVP Peter Tafeen, according to news reports this morning.

Wolff and Tafeen weren't mentioned in yesterday's statements from the DOJ and the Securities Exchange Commission that announced settlement agreements and guilty pleas from the three other former executives. But the two were highly enough placed at Homestore to conceivably have had knowledge of the bogus round-trip transactions that fraudulently inflated the company's revenues by $46 million last year.

The defendants who agreed to plead guilt also agreed to cooperate with the investigation and assist the authorities. They are expected to testify also about AOL's involvement in Homestore's round-trip transactions, according to news sources.

The SEC yesterday said it won't bring any enforcement action against Homestore, and CEO Mike Long said it had been a good day for the company.

Copyright: Inman News Service


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