Accountant Pleads Guilty to Making a False Statement
During SEC Enforcement Investigation

     WASHINGTON - Bryan Polozola, 37, a partner at an auditing firm and a certified public accountant, pled guilty today to a federal charge of making a false statement stemming from responses he gave under oath last year to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Polozola, of Richardson, Texas, pled guilty before the Honorable Robert L. Wilkins in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of making a false statement. He is to be sentenced on March 26, 2012. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces a likely sentence of up to six months of incarceration and a fine of up to $5,000.

     According to a statement of offense agreed to by the government and Polozola, the SEC was conducting an investigation in 2011 of a corporation that managed multiple hedge funds to determine whether any federal securities laws had been violated. The SEC took testimony, pursuant to subpoena, of Polozola on September 27 and 28, 2011. Polozola was subpoenaed as a partner in the auditing firm that audited the hedge funds managed by the corporation, and the audits were a central issue in the SEC inquiry.

     During Polozola’s sworn testimony, SEC enforcement attorneys asked him about a bar that the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) imposed against him in 2005. The NASD alleged that he had converted $49,350 belonging to his former employer to his personal use. The bar prohibited Polozola from associating with any of the NASD’s member firms but did not prohibit him from auditing member firms and hedge funds. Polozola had consented to the bar, without admitting or denying the NASD’s allegations. During his testimony on September 28, 2011, Polozola told SEC enforcement attorneys that he had not reimbursed his former employer the $49,350, when, in fact, he knew that his attorney had paid back the money on his behalf.

     In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the efforts of the staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Legal Assistant Jared Forney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Chris Dobbie, for their work in prosecuting the case. U.S. Attorney Machen also thanked the SEC for its cooperation in the case.

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