The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking more than $22 million from the former CEO of Kmart Corp., Charles Conaway, for “intentionally lying” to Wall Street and concealing information from Kmart directors prior to its bankruptcy filing in 2002. 


In a motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, SEC lawyer Alan Lieberman wrote, “There is no question that the fraud prevented investors from anticipating the filing and avoiding the loss of their investments.” The SEC had accused Conaway of failing to disclose that Kmart was delaying payments to suppliers to save cash in late 2001. In June, a federal jury in Ann Arbor, Mich., ruled in favor of the government.