Follow up to previous postings on Diebold e-voting machine controversy, this news release: “The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Diebold, Inc. and three former financial executives for engaging in a fraudulent accounting scheme to inflate the company’s earnings. The SEC separately filed an enforcement action against Diebold’s former CEO seeking reimbursement of certain financial benefits that he received while Diebold was committing accounting fraud. The SEC alleges that Diebold’s financial management received “flash reports” — sometimes on a daily basis — comparing the company’s actual earnings to analyst earnings forecasts. Diebold’s financial management prepared “opportunity lists” of ways to close the gap between the company’s actual financial results and analyst forecasts. Many of the opportunities on these lists were fraudulent accounting transactions designed to improperly recognize revenue or otherwise inflate Diebold’s financial performance. Diebold — an Ohio-based company that manufactures and sells ATMs, bank security systems and electronic voting machines — agreed to pay a $25 million penalty to settle the SEC’s charges. Diebold’s former CEO Walden O’Dell agreed to reimburse cash bonuses, stock, and stock options under the “clawback” provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”