dential high-speed data service. Within a few months of Gikas' positive prediction, however, Charter took a turn for the worse. In August 2002, federal prosecutors announced an investigation of Charter's expense accounting practices, primarily focusing on how the company accounted for costs related to current and former cable subscribers. Charter officials expressed their intent to cooperate fully in the investigation. A dozen firms filed class-action lawsuits against Charter in 2002, alleging violations of securities laws. The company fired COO David Barford and CFO Kent Kalkwarf that December. David McCall, Charter's former senior vice president of operations for the company's eastern division, plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges in July 2003. McCall was one of four former Charter executives arraigned on 14 corporate fraud allegations relating to plots to defraud investors in 2000 and 2001. McCall was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; Barford and Kalkwarf were indicted by a federal grand jury on 14 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and former senior vice president James Smith was indicted on eight counts of wire fraud and conspiracy. U.S. Attorney Ray Gruender said Kalkwarf and Barford artificially inflated revenue and cash flow numbers and created fictitious subscribers, in a scheme that caused Charter to falsely include more than $17 million as revenue and cash flow for the fiscal year 2000. In a statement following the indictments, Charter said it had executed an internal review of its business practices, put a new management structure in place and implemented a company-wide compliance program. Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. LIBRARY Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Charter Communications No rest from the SEC In July 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended an inquiry into Char