SEC settles fraud case with former Celadon trucking executives

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has settled an accounting fraud case filed against Eric Meek and Bobby Peavler, two former executives of the now defunct Indianapolis-based company, Celadon Group Inc., according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District Indiana.

The agreement was reached Jan. 30. Details of the settlement have not been released. An order signed by Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker said the parties must file a proposed agreement within 60 days.

When reached, a spokesman for the SEC declined to comment. Attorneys for Peavler and Meek did not respond to a request for comment. The settlement follows the dismissal of a criminal case against the two men brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in August.

Celadon Group:Federal prosecutors dismiss fraud charges against two former Celadon executives

Meek, who resigned from Celadon in 2017, was the company's former president and chief operating officer. Peavler, who resigned in 2018, was formerly Celadon's chief financial officer.

The SEC charged the pair in 2019, accusing them of inflating Celadon's earnings and income. In a complaint, the SEC said the scheme allowed Celadon, once the largest provider of international truckload services in North America, to hide tens of millions of dollars in losses related to the significant decline in value of its trucks.

The SEC sought to bring a civil law enforcement action against Meek and Peavler. Celadon settled a similar accounting fraud case with SEC in April 2019. In that case, the federal agency accused the company of avoiding $20 million in losses and charges by buying and selling used tracks at inflated prices to third-parties. Celadon admitted to the violations and agreed to pay $7 million, which was deemed satisfied by Celadon's agreement to pay $42.2 million in restitution in a concurrent U.S. Department of Justice case.

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Celadon Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy in December 2019 and immediately shut down its operations. Nearly 4,000 employees lost their jobs. The company provided trucking services in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Meanwhile, Danny Ray Williams, former president of Quality Companies LLC, a Celadon Group subsidiary that leased tractors and trailers to owner-operator drivers, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, making false statements to a public company's accounting, and to falsifying books, accounts and records of a public company.

In November, he was sentenced to time served.

Contact IndyStar reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @allyburris.