US legal firm probes Tech Data CEO $2m stock trade

O'Bell Law Firm aims to discover if laws were broken by big trade before accounts boo-boo was made public

A US legal firm has opened an investigation to determine whether or not senior management at Tech Data breached their fiduciary duties or otherwise broke the law in relation to its recently concluded accounting saga.

New Orleans-based O'Bell Law Firm has launched a probe into the actions of "the board of directors and certain executive officers of Tech Data". The inquest follows revelations earlier this week that the distribution giant will be wiping $27m (£16.5m) off previously stated net profits. This follows the conclusion of an independent 10-month investigation into "accounting improprieties" within its UK business.

In a press release issued this week, O'Bell notes that Tech Data initially published its FY13 results on 4 March last year. Four days later chief executive Robert Dutkowsky sold 40,000 shares of his personal stock for a reported sum of about $2m.

The trade came less than two weeks before the company announced that it would be restating its numbers following the discovery of the accounting irregularities. When the restatement announcement was made, Tech Data's shares fell about 10.7 per cent.

The inquest from the Louisianan class action and securities litigation specialist follows similar moves last year by law firms Kahn Swick & Foti, and Bronstein, Gerwirtz & Grossman.