The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, pressing ahead with a crackdown on the municipal bond market, on Monday filed groundbreaking fraud charges that alleged an Indiana school district and its underwriter lied about financial information. The West Clark Community Schools district failed to submit annual reports or notices required by statute for a 2005 bond issue and then, in an official statement for a 2007 bond sale underwritten by City Securities Corporation, said it had complied with disclosure obligations, the SEC said. Official statements summarize new bond sales for investors. City Securities did not follow up on ensuring West Clark made the disclosures, the commission added. "This is the first time the SEC has charged a municipal issuer with falsely claiming in a bond offering’s official statement that it was fully compliant with the annual disclosure obligations it agreed to in prior offerings," said Andrew Ceresney, co-director of the SEC's enforcement division. He
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