Investors.com: Royal Dutch/Shell Fined $120 Million, Lives On to Overstate Another Day: “It is the third largest for the SEC, after WorldCom Inc…” (ShellNews.net)

Aug 25, 2004 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- (FinancialWire) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has fined Royal Dutch/Shell (RD) $120 million.

The fine was over the company's overstatement of its oil and gas reserves. It is the third largest for the SEC, after WorldCom Inc., now MCI (MCIP) agreed to pay investors $500 million in 2003, and the $150 million fine and restitution by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) this month.

The SEC said it is still looking at the possibility of individual liability, and the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating. Former Shell chair Phillip Watts, Walter van de Vijver, head of exploration and production, and CFO Judy Boynton have all resigned.

Royal Dutch/Shell had already agreed to pay the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority $30 million.

The company had overstated its proven reserves by almost 4.5 billion barrels, or 23%.

http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=22803530&brk=1