SEC Charges SinoTech, 2 Executives With Misleading Investors

U.S. securities regulators on Monday charged the China-based oilfield services company SinoTech Energy Ltd and two senior officers with misleading investors about the company's asset values and its use of $120 million from the proceeds of its initial public offering.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's civil suit, filed in a U.S. district court in Louisiana, alleges that SinoTech Chief Executive Officer Guoqiang Xin and former Chief Financial Officer Boxun Zhang were responsible for the alleged fraud.

The SEC also charged the company's chairman, Qinzeng Liu, saying that he stole $40 million from a SinoTech bank account.