The United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a consent and final judgment against Michael G. Smeraski, former senior sales vice president at HBO & Company, Inc. (HBOC), an Atlanta, Ga.-based health care software vendor that merged with McKesson in 1999. Smeraski was charged with securities fraud in connection with a long-running scheme at HBOC to fraudulently inflate revenue and net income. Smeraski and others routinely approved software sales contracts with associated side letters containing unsatisfied contingencies precluding revenue recognition and backdated contracts and other documents for the purpose of recognizing revenue in an earlier reporting period. These practices failed to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. In addition to being permanently enjoined from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, Smeraski was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $50,000. See related McKesson misconduct instances “McKesson/HBOC, Inc. Securities Litigation” and “McKesson/HBOC Inc. ERISA Litigation.”