Source: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/watsonw
Timestamp: 2016-10-27 11:33:49
Document Index: 138197054

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 371', '§ 371', '§ 78', '§ 78', '§ 1341', '§ 78', '§ 78', '§ 1350']

Court Docket Number: 2:09-CR-00372-PHX-SRB
This case is assigned to the Honorable Susan R. Bolton, United States District Court Judge for the District of Arizona, Sandra Day O’Connor United States Courthouse, 401 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona.
Don W. Watson, former chief financial officer of Phoenix-based CSK Auto Corporation (CSK), a large specialty retailer of auto parts and accessories in the western United States, pleaded guilty on May 13, 2011 before Judge Susan R. Bolton. Defendant Watson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities and mail fraud (Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371) stemming from a scheme to misstate CSK's reported earnings from 2001 through 2006. Watson was sentenced on September 19, 2011 to 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Subsequently, on November 30, 2011, Judge Bolton amended Watson’s sentence to include restitution in the amount of $1,016.13. The charges against co-defendant Martin G. Fraser, the former president and chief operating officer of CSK, were dismissed in June 2010 as a result of his having died before the case was tried.
Watson and Fraser were indicted by a federal grand jury on April 7, 2009 and charged with one count of conspiracy (Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371), six counts of securities fraud (Counts 2-7: 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)), six counts of false filings (Counts 8-13: 15 U.S.C. §§ 78m(a) and 78ff), eleven counts of mail fraud (Counts 14-24: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1346), two counts of false books and records (Counts 25-26: 15 U.S.C. §§ 78m(b) and 78ff), and six counts of false statements to auditors (Counts 27-32: 15 U.S.C. § 78ff). Watson was also charged with two counts of false certification of financial reports (Counts 33-34: 18 U.S.C. § 1350(c)).
In related cases, Edward William O'Brien III, the former controller of CSK, and Gary Michael Opper, the former director of credits and receivables at CSK, were each sentenced to 3 years of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 and $2,500 fine, respectively. These sentences follow their guilty pleas to one count of obstruction of proceedings before agencies, stemming from an attempt to thwart a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into CSK's accounting practices.
If you have any questions, please call Pam Washington (888) 549-3945 or email her at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. Victim Impact Statement
Order Granting United States’ Motion to Provide Notice to Victims by Publication
Indictment Updated June 15, 2015