Scheme Triggered a $6 Billion Loss to Ahold Shareholders in 2003
7 December 2011 – Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MARK P. KAISER, a former executive of U.S. Foodservice, Inc. (“USF”), then a subsidiary of the Dutch food conglomerate Royal Ahold, N.V. (“Ahold”), was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 46 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to inflate USF’s reported results of operations during the years 2000 through 2003. Today’s sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Griesa.
In July 2004, KAISER and three other senior USF executives were indicted for their roles in the accounting fraud. The other three executives – Michael J. Resnick, Timothy J. Lee, and William F. Carter – each pled guilty. On November 8, 2006, KAISER was convicted by a jury on all six counts with which he was charged, including one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and four counts of making false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). KAISER appealed his conviction, and the Court of Appeals remanded the case to the District Court for a new trial. On August 15, 2011, KAISER changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. Specifically, KAISER pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, to file false statements with the SEC, and to keep false books and records for USF and Ahold.
