SEC settles with charter-school operator over muni bond offering
The agency said Arizona’s Park View School misled investors about its financial condition
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Park View School, a state-funded, nonprofit charter school operator based in Prescott Valley, Arizona, and its former president, Debra Kay Slagle, with misleading investors in an April 2016 municipal bond offering.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Park View and Slagle made false and misleading statements about Park View’s financial condition, and did not disclose that the school had experienced significant operating losses and repeatedly made unauthorized withdrawals from two reserve accounts to cover routine operating expenses.
According to the complaint, investors purchased $7.6 million in bonds in the 2016 offering. A year later, Park View reduced the interest payments that it made on the bonds.
Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Slagle and Park View agreed to settle with the SEC. Slagle also agreed to pay a $30,000 penalty and to be enjoined from participating in future municipal securities offerings.
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