IBM Shares Drop After Report Of New SEC Probe

IBM

Accounting newsletter SEC Insight Inc. said that it had obtained a letter recently from the U.S. regulatory agency which states that the SEC had begun a preliminary investigation of IBM starting on February 15, 2002.

IBM spokeswoman Carol Makovich said the company was unaware of the SEC Insight newsletter report and declined to comment.

"As a matter of policy, IBM does not comment on its relationship with governement agencies," the spokeswoman said.

The newsletter says it believes that this represented a new probe tied to a mid-February report in the New York Times surrounding how the computer maker used the sale of an optical transciever unit to help it meet its fourth-quarter earnings goals.

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