The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing documents alleging that Time Warner Inc. booked more than $400 million in questionable advertising revenue following the company's January 2001 merger with America Online Inc., according to people familiar with the investigation.
The SEC plans to send a formal letter of notification to Time Warner by early summer, signaling that investigators believe they have assembled enough evidence to support their conclusions about wrongdoing. The most prominent single item in the Time Warner matter is a $400 million ad deal with the German media giant Bertelsmann AG, federal sources said.
The Washington Post has the details here.