RALEIGH -- A report released Thursday by Law Enforcement Associates found no evidence of wrongdoing by company Chairman Tony Rand, who has been accused by two former board members of hatching an insider trading scheme and other potential crimes.
The report was commissioned by the company's Special Investigation Committee, which is headed by Lyndo Tippett, the former secretary of the N.C. Department of Transportation and Rand's personal accountant.
The other member of the committee is LEA's newly hired chief executive officer, Alan Terry, another longtime associate of Rand's.
Rand, a longtime member of the state Senate who plans to step down soon , said the report is an independent and factual account. Asked how the investigation could be considered independent when it was led by people so close to him, Rand said the integrity of Tippett and Terry is beyond question.
"They are strong-minded, strong-willed, independent individuals," Rand said.
LEA, which has about 30employees, sells and manufactures surveillance and security equipment.
The company's inquiry, conducted by a Raleigh lawyer, Lisa Grafstein, attempts to rebut claims by former CEO Paul Feldman and former sales director Martin Perry that they were fired in retaliation for their cooperation with federal regulators investigating suspected violations at the company.
Efforts to reach Feldman and Perry on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Grafstein specializes in employment law. That specialty is appropriate, Tippett said Thursday, because Feldman and Perry have filed whistle-blower complaints. Feldman and Perry sat on the company's five-person board of directors until this month, when they were replaced by Tippett and Terry.
The company's investigation finds that Feldman was fired for insubordination and poor performance and that Perry effectively resigned by not coming to work while he says he was ill. Further, the report found no evidence that Rand or other LEA officials engaged in securities violations in managing the publicly traded company.
