Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc will pay $34.5 million to settle charges it misled investors about the increased risk that it would miss a key financial goal related to its merger in 2012, the top U.S. securities regulator said on Friday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it had also charged former chief executive officer Gregory Wasson and former finance head Wade Miquelon, who agreed to each pay a $160,000 penalty.
The settlement does not involve any current officers or executives, nor does it allege that anyone acted intentionally or recklessly at any time, Walgreens said in a statement.
The U.S. drugstore chain said it neither admits nor denies the SEC’s allegations that the firm and its former top executives acted negligently.
The SEC said both executives also consented to the order without admitting or denying the findings. Wasson and Miquelon did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Shares of the company were trading slightly lower at $73.41 on Friday morning.
Reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington and Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Arun Koyyur