SEC v. Pyxus International, Inc. (accounting fraud, 2018)

Settled

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-pyxus-international-inc-2018) by email

In November 2018, the SEC settled charges against tobacco company Pyxus International, Inc. (formerly Alliance One) over accounting practices at its Kenya subsidiary, including recording fictitious sales, that misstated its financial statements.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency	SEC
Release number	3-18891
Date filed	2018-11-09
Date resolved	2018-11-09
Status	settled
Asset class	equities
Venue	NYSE
Criminal parallel	No
Defendants	Pyxus International, Inc. (entity)
Cited as charged or alleged	Exchange Act s.13(a) (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques

What was ordered

Civil penalty: —
Disgorgement: —
Prejudgment interest: —
Total relief: —
Alleged gain: —

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on November 9, 2018 as release 3-18891. The respondents named are Pyxus International, Inc. (0 individuals, 1 entity).

The order finds that from 2011 to 2015, Alliance One Kenya recorded fictitious sales invoices to a customer, recognised revenue prematurely, overstated inventory and understated costs. These are accounting entries, not trades, so the matter is unrelated to wash trading.

This library applies no technique tag to the matter. The "fictitious sales" here are false invoices in the company's books, not trades.

Pyxus consented to the cease-and-desist order.

Timeline

2018-11-09 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

SEC order

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.