Kraft Heinz to Pay $62 Million to Settle SEC Accounting Probe

Kraft Heinz Co. agreed to pay a $62 million penalty to settle a federal securities regulator’s claims that the company engaged in an expense-management scheme that resulted in inflated earnings.

Kraft engaged in various types of accounting misconduct, including recognizing unearned discounts from suppliers and maintaining false and misleading supplier contracts, according to a Friday statement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The improprieties resulted in inflated earnings from the last quarter of 2015 to the end of 2018. In June 2019, after the SEC started its probe, Kraft restated its financials.

The agency also sued Kraft’s former ...