By Dean Seal
Shares of Brooge Energy tumbled after federal regulators fined the company for allegedly inflating its revenues in documents for a $500 million stock sale.
The stock was down 21% at $3.11 in recent trading. Shares have fallen 42% year-to-date.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday morning that the United Arab Emirates-based energy company gave auditors false invoices that inflated revenue from its oil facilities in Fujairah, the main oil-storage hub of U.A.E., by more than $70 million between 2018 and early 2021.
The agency claims former Chief Executive Nicolaas Lammert Paardenkooper and former interim-CEO Lina Saheb knew of the fraud or were reckless in not knowing of it.
Without admitting or denying the findings, Brooge has agreed to pay a $5 million penalty while Paardenkooper and Saheb will each pay $100,000 fines to settle the claims.
Brooge agreed during the course of the SEC's investigation not to follow through with the $500 million stock sale at issue. In April, the company restated its financial statements from 2018 through 2020.
Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-22-23 1023ET