Whitehall Jewellers Fires CFO, Won’t Meet Filing Deadline

Whitehall Jewellers has fired its chief financial officer Jon Browne today (Thursday) after an investigation found he violated inventory policy. An internal audit was conducted after the SEC and U.S. Justice Department declared they were investigating the company.

Browne was on leave since the internal audit found that the policy on documenting the age of inventory was violated. Whitehall said the violation related to less then one percent of merchandise.

John Desjardins will continue as CFO on an interim basis, the company says, adding that following Browne’s firing it’s not likely it will meet the deadline for filing its quarterly report with the SEC.

Whitehall and another 14 companies, including Friedman’s, were named in a lawsuit filed by Capital Factors, alleging Cosmopolitan Gem defrauded Capital Factors. The lawsuit is what triggered the SEC and Justice Department probes.