Michael H. Taber, CPA

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 22773 / August 8, 2013

Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 3474 / August 8, 2013

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Michael H. Taber, CPA, Civil Action No. 13-mc-0282 (S.D.N.Y. filed Aug. 8, 2013)

SEC Charges Certified Public Accountant with Violating Commission Suspension Order

Seeks Disgorgement of Illicit Compensation Received During Suspended Period

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed an application in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against certified public accountant Michael H. Taber. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Michael H. Taber, CPA, 13-mc-0282 (S.D.N.Y.). Taber is a resident of Salisbury Mills, New York and Yulee, Florida, and has been licensed as a certified public accountant by the State of New York since 1974.

The SEC alleged in its application that Taber violated a July 21, 2004 Commission Order issued under Rule 102(e)(3)(i) of the Commission's Rules of Practice (the "2004 Order") that permanently suspended Taber from appearing or practicing before the Commission as an accountant. According to the application, at the time of the 2004 Order, Taber was employed as the controller of Sono-Tek Corporation, an issuer that filed periodic reports with the Commission. Despite the 2004 Order, he continued to work in that capacity until 2005. Taber's responsibilities at Sono-Tek during that period included drafting quarterly and annual statements on Forms 10-Q and 10-K and preparing income statements, balance sheets, statements of cash flow, and footnotes to those financial statements. After Taber left Sono-Tek in 2005, he went to work for Jefferson Wells International, Inc., a professional services firm that outsourced specialists to perform accounting and other work. The application further alleged that while he was at Jefferson Wells, Taber provided a number of issuers with various accounting services, including: preparing income statements and statements of cash flow; drafting and editing footnotes to these and other financial statements; compiling and computing schedules of support for such footnotes; and creating, compiling, and editing this data and other information that was then incorporated into Forms 10-Q, 10-K, and 8-K that were filed with the Commission. Taber's relationship with Jefferson Wells ended in late 2010.

The SEC's application seeks a district court order enforcing its 2004 Order suspending Taber from appearing or practicing before the Commission as an accountant, and asks that the court order him to pay $584,650.41 in disgorgement, representing illicit compensation gained as a result of his engaging in work that was proscribed by the 2004 Order, together with prejudgment interest in the amount of $146,849.02.

Application