backOn March 14, 2025, the SEC filed a civil action against the former chief financial officer of Acreage Holdings, Inc., asserting claims against the former CFO for alleged violations of Rule 13b2-1, Rule 13b2-2, Section 13(b)(5), and Section 13(b)(2)(A), contending that he lied to the company’s auditor and falsified the company’s accounting records.
The SEC alleges that Glen Leibowitz transferred approximately $4.2 million to Acreage from an affiliated entity, which temporarily increased Acreage’s year-end 2019 cash balance on its internal accounting records, but with the understanding that Acreage would return the exact same amount to the affiliate after year-end. According to the SEC’s complaint, Acreage in fact returned the money on January 3, 2020. The complaint alleges that Leibowitz lied to the company’s auditor, which the SEC did not identify in its complaint, about the “roundtrip cash transfer,” and that Leibowitz instructed an employee to “bury” the accounting for the cash transfer in a way that would avoid the auditor’s scrutiny. The SEC further alleges that Leibowitz lied to the auditor about the round-trip cash transfer and signed a false management representation letter, which Acreage provided to the auditor, disclaiming any knowledge of actual, alleged, or suspected fraud.
In its complaint, the SEC seeks, among other things, to permanently prohibit Leibowitz from acting in an accounting or financial reporting role at a public company in connection with the preparation of financial statements filed with the SEC. Historically, prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Jarkesy, the SEC had typically sought such relief in administrative proceedings instituted pursuant to Rule 102(e) of the SEC’s Rules of Practice.
A copy of the complaint can be found here. The SEC’s press release about the complaint can be found here