The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges yesterday against the former CFO and CEO of Delphi along with 11 others, charging them with altering the company's financials between 2000 and 2004. The SEC said that Dawes has agreed to pay around $687,000 to settle with the SEC, while six others took similar deals. The rest of the defendants are fighting the charges.

The problems began last year, when an internal investigation by Delphi's audit committee revealed a series of accounting problems. These problems included improper accounting for $237 million worth of warranty claims to GM as well as several million dollars of debt that could not be found on the company's balance sheet. These accounting misstatements led to an inflated net income number and an artificially higher value (due to less debt appearing on the balance sheet). Typically such misstatements are used to reach financial targets to achieve bonuses or other executive perks. In a press release, current CEO Robert Miller said, "We have cooperated fully with the commission's investigation and will continue to do so. We are pleased to put the SEC investigation behind us and consider this settlement an important step in our transformation process."