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Alere Subpoenaed Under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Alere today reported that it has received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice and that it will delay filing its annual earnings report for 2015 for a second time.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Alere said that it received a grand jury subpoena from the DOJ on March 11 for "documents relating to, among other things, sales, sales practices and dealings with third parties (including distributors and foreign governmental officials) in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and other matters related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."

The company was expected to file its fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 earnings on February 26, but filed for an extension because it was analyzing aspects of revenue recognition in Africa and China as well as potential implications on evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015.

In this latest notice to the SEC, Alere stated that it would not meet its extension deadline for filing its annual report because it is still in the process of analyzing revenue recognition, specifically revenue cutoff in Africa and China, and has expanded its analysis to include the years ended Dec. 31, 2013 and 2014.

The company further noted in the filing that it continues to expect to complete the $5.6 billion merger with Abbott by the end of 2016. However, it does not anticipate mailing a definitive proxy statement pertaining to the special meeting of stockholders that will be held to adopt the proposed merger with Abbott until after it files its 2015 earnings.

Alere's shares were down about 5 percent in early trading on the Nasdaq.