Hansen Medical (NSDQ:HNSN) said a federal judge approved its $8.5 million settlement of a shareholders lawsuit filed over the 2009 restatement of its financials following a fraud scandal.
Hansen adjusted its books in 2009 after receiving an anonymous tip that "documentation related to certain revenue transactions was falsified, and there was not an effective control environment in our sales, clinical and field service departments," according to regulatory filings.
In July, The Mountain View, Calif.-based robotic surgery company said it agreed to pay $4.25 million in cash and another $4.5 million worth of its own stock to settle the lawsuit.
Yesterday Hansen said in a regulatory filing that Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for Northern California approved the deal, which will see it dole out the cash plus nearly 2.3 million shares of HNSN stock.
HNSN shares were down 2.4% to $1.61 each as of about 4 p.m. today.
Hansen settled a beef with the SEC over the restatement in 2011 and agreed to cover $300,000 worth of legal costs in another set of shareholders’ suits last year. Earlier this week a former executive lost his bid to have an SEC case against him tossed.
Hansen had recognized revenues for the sale of 2 of its Sensei robotic surgery systems but had in fact received only $320,000. "As a result, there were instances where revenue was recognized prior to the completion of all of the elements required for revenue recognition under our revenue recognition policy. All of the irregularities that were identified during the investigation occurred outside of the accounting department," according to filings.
The restatement pushed Hansen’s losses during the 3 months ended Sept. 30, 2008, from $12.0 million, or 48 cents per share, to $12.9 million, or 51 cents per share. HNSN shares plunged 9% that day, from an Oct. 16, 2009, close of $3.43 to end the next day at $3.12.
Shareholder lawsuits soon followed, alleging that the company and its management "made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to make disclosures regarding our financial results and compliance with [generally accepted accounting principles] while improperly recognizing revenue; that these misstatements and/or non-disclosures resulted in overstatement of our revenue and financial results and/or artificially inflated our stock price; and that following our October 19, 2009 announcement, the price of our stock declined," according to SEC filings.