Pier 1 Imports, Ex-CFO to Settle Charges

Pier 1 Imports Inc. has agreed to refrain from violating financial reporting rules and its former chief financial officer will pay a $75,000 fine to settle allegations of concealing a $20-million investment loss. The settlements, announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission, were the latest actions related to the agency’s investigation of S. Jay Goldinger, a former high-profile money manager from Beverly Hills who was accused of defrauding corporate clients, including Pier 1. The SEC alleged in a civil lawsuit that the former CFO, Robert G. Herndon, hid the $20-million loss in Pier 1’s investment funds in 1995 from the company’s senior management and outside auditors. By concealing the loss and other facts of Pier 1’s investments with Goldinger, the SEC said, Herndon caused the company to make misrepresentations and omissions in its periodic filings that are read by the investing public. Shares of Fort Worth-based Pier 1 rose 19 cents to close at $13.13 on the NYSE.