Business
McKesson settles fraud suit
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 31, 2005
McKesson Corp. on Jan. 12 agreed to pay $960 million to settle a class-action lawsuit arising from accounting fraud at HBO & Co., a health care software company it acquired in 1999.
The fraud, which came to light after McKesson acquired HBOC in January 1999, erased about $9 billion off McKesson's market capitalization, forced it to restate financial results and sparked several shareholder lawsuits.
Four former HBOC executives have pleaded guilty to certain charges involving accounting improprieties, and charges are pending against other former executives of HBOC and McKesson.
McKesson said it also was increasing its reserves by an additional $240 million for potential exposure from other lawsuits that are not covered by the $960 million settlement.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/01/31/bibf0131.htm.












