SEC Charges Operator of Miami-Dade County’s Largest Hospital With Misleading Investors About Financial Condition (with Bondi Comment)

The SEC charged Public Health Trust, the acting authority for the Jackson Health System, with misstating present and future revenues. The SEC found that Public Health Trust projected a non-operating loss in the official statement, but reported a figure that was four times lower than what was ultimately reported at the end of the 2009 fiscal year. Additionally, the SEC found that Public Health Trust failed to properly account for an adverse arbitration awarded, and misrepresented that its financial statements were prepared according to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"). The Trust has agreed to settle the SEC's charges.

Bondi Comment:This is one more of what appears to be a series of enforcement actions against governmental and quasi-governmental entities in connection with securities offerings. Government officials, and private participants in securities offerings, should be mindful that municipal securities offerings are now centers of regulatory focus.

See: SEC Order; SEC Press Relase.