INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Indiana Secretary of State's office says an Indianapolis accounting firm has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit over its work for a convicted Ponzi schemer.
Secretary of State Connie Lawson says the accounting work by DeWitt & Shrader P.C. lent credibility to the scheme by Fishers money manager Keenan Hauke, and it had a responsibility to check his work before issuing client account and tax statements.
Hauke was sentenced to 10 years in prison in December 2011 for securities fraud.
Lawson says the DeWitt and Shrader settlement will go toward repaying Hauke's victims, who lost $9 million. She says 97 investors have already recovered $1 million, and her office is working to recover more.
A telephone message seeking comment was left with DeWitt and Shrader.
