against five former executives: Wayne Pratt, former chief financial officer; James Li, former company president; Roger Kao, former vice chairman of manufacturer Taiwan Kolin Co, a supplier of Syntax-Brillian; Christopher Liu, former chairman of Kolin. Additional charges were also brought against Thomas Chow, chief procurement officer of Syntax. In 2012, Thomas Chow was ordered to pay over 48 million dollars in penalties after he failed to respond to an SEC lawsuit. The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained permanent injunctions against defendants James Li, Roger Kao, Christopher Liu, and Wayne Pratt, and collected disgorgement and civil penalties from these defendants. In addition, the Commission obtained officer and director bars against Li, Liu, and Pratt, as well as the entry of an administrative order suspending Pratt from appearing or practicing before the Commission as an accountant with the right to reapply after five years. The SEC filed charges against Robert Chiu, an audit and relationship partner for Syntax's outside auditor, for aiding and abetting the fraudulent revenue recognition scheme. In April 2012, former CEO James Li was ordered to pay $11 million in "insider trading" and "civil" penalties "for his role in the financial fraud scheme". In addition the court "also imposed an officer and director bar against Li". The outside counsel of Syntax-Brillian corporation, the law firm of Greenberg Traurig LLP—most famous for being associated with Jack Abramoff—settled out of court with the Syntax-Brillian creditors' trust, agreeing to repay $3.3 million earned in pre-bankruptcy fees, of the $5 million paid to the law firm by Syntax-Brillian in the year prior to the bankruptcy. Vivitar On November 21, 2006 the company acquired for $26 million in stock privately held Vivitar Corporation, a seller of digital cameras and camcorders, which it operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. Subsequent to its bankruptcy filing, the company sold the Vivitar brand name and intellectual property to privately held Sakar International, Inc. The sale did not include Vivitar's equipment, facilities or accounts receivable and terms were not disclosed. The deal to acquire Vivitar was subsequently named "Turnaround Atlas Awards' Special Situations M&A Deal of the Year". References Companies based in Tempe, Arizona Consumer electronics brands 2004 establishments in Arizona 2009 disestablishments in Arizona Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008