CVS Caremark to Pay $20 Million to Settle SEC Sharges

CVS, the country's second-largest pharmacy chain, has agreed to pay $20 million to settle charges that it misled investors and used improper accounting techniques to artificially boost its financial earnings, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday. The charges stem from activities that occurred in the third and fourth quarters of 2009, regulators said. According to the SEC, CVS conducted a $1.5 billion bond offering in 2009, but didn't tell investors that it had recently lost "significant" Medicare Part D and contract revenues in its pharmacy benefits business segment.