SEC Alleges Fraud at California Amplifier

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday accused Richard Kusatzky, former controller of California Amplifier Inc., of accounting fraud and insider trading.

Kusatzky, 52, caused California Amplifier, which makes satellite dishes for EchoStar Communications Corp., to overstate earnings during a 12-month period ended in November 2000, the SEC said in a civil lawsuit. He hid $7.8 million in company expenses and presented fake records to auditors, according to the suit.

Kusatzky profited by exercising all his vested options in the Oxnard-based company and selling 15,000 shares of stock, the SEC said. His trading helped him avoid losses of more than $350,000, according to the suit, filed in federal court in Washington.

Kusatzky, who was controller from January 1997 to March 2001, now lives in Illinois, the SEC said. He couldn’t be reached for comment. His lawyer, Stanley Greenberg of Los Angeles, declined to comment.

California Amplifier settled a related SEC administrative case alleging that the firm didn’t have enough accounting controls, the agency said. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the firm agreed to be subject to stiffer penalties if it violated securities laws in the future.

The company didn’t return a call for comment.