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ARTICLE · 11 SEPTEMBER 2023

Are Springing Penalties A Thing? SEC Charges Plug Power With Accounting, Reporting And Control Failures

Cooley LLP
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In this Order, the SEC brought settled charges against Plug Power, Inc., a provider of green hydrogen and hydrogen-fuel-cell solutions, for financial reporting, accounting and controls failures in connection...

United StatesAccounting and Audit
Cydney Posner
Cydney Posner
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In this Order, the SEC brought settled charges against Plug Power, Inc., a provider of green hydrogen and hydrogen-fuel-cell solutions, for financial reporting, accounting and controls failures in connection with a variety of the Company's complex business transactions. The failures required Plug to restate its financial statements for several years. In the restatement, Company management identified a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting and ineffective disclosure controls and procedures, allegedly "due to Plug Power's failure to maintain a sufficient complement of trained, knowledgeable personnel to execute their responsibilities for certain financial statement accounts and disclosures. Despite these control deficiencies, the Company raised over $5 billion from investors during the relevant Filing Period." According to the SEC, Plug's "material weakness in ICFR and ineffective DCP have not been fully remediated," and the Company is

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