Dennis A. Bakal, Susan P. Dial and William S. Cole
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 18388 / October 2, 2003
Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 1887 / October 2, 2003
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Dennis A. Bakal, Susan P. Dial and William S. Cole Civil Action No. 1:03-CV-2909 (NDGA September 26, 2003)
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") filed a complaint on September 26, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Dennis A. Bakal ("Bakal"), Susan P. Dial ("Dial") and William S. Cole ("Cole"), all residing in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia.
The complaint alleges that during the first three quarters of calendar year 1999, Bakal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Professional Transportation Group, Ltd., Inc. ("Professional Transportation"), a trucking business headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, along with Dial, the company's Chief Financial Officer, orchestrated a scheme to inflate the company's net income by recording fictitious sales on the accounting records of the primary operating subsidiary of the company. The scheme caused Professional Transportation to fraudulently report a cumulative net profit of $402,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 1999, instead of a net loss of $1.7 million. Additionally, during the first two quarters of 2000, Bakal, Dial, and Cole, the company's controller, engaged in a second scheme to inflate the company's net income by recording sales and receivables actually earned by another trucking entity controlled by Professional Transportation's majority shareholder. This scheme caused the company to fraudulently report a cumulative net profit of $1.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2000, instead of a net loss of $1.7 million.
The complaint seeks permanent injunctions enjoining defendants Bakal, Dial and Cole from further violations or aiding and abetting violations of Sections 10(b), 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5, 12b-20, 13a-13 and 13b2-1 thereunder; and Bakal and Dial from further violations or aiding and abetting violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Rules 13a-1 and 13b2-2 thereunder. The Commission further seeks the disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, the imposition of civil penalties against the defendants, and an officer or director bar against Bakal and Dial.
Last Reviewed or Updated: June 27, 2023