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Ex-AOL chief accused over ad revenue 'deception'
Two others charged as Time Warner boss escapes the dock

By Jo Best

Published: Thursday 12 August 2004

Former AOL chairman Steve Case has been ordered to appear in court over accusations he was deliberately dishonest about the ISP's ad revenues before its merger with entertainment giant Time Warner.

Other AOL execs as well as Case are facing charges: Joesph Ripp, ex-CFO, and Gerald Levin, ex-CEO of AOL Time Warner. The three were originally brought to court in May over the issue, along with the current chairman of Time Warner, Richard Parson. Parson has not been charged this time.

The accusations concern the monies AOL was to bring in from online ad spending. Case is accused of knowing that the market in internet ads would tumble sharply while publicly maintaining there was nothing to worry about in order to boost the company's shares.

According to court filings, Case denies the charges.

Case recently sold some of his stock in Time Warner, for the first time since he stepped down as AOL chairman last year. He netted around $1.7m from the sale.

The merger of AOL and Time Warner has gone down as one of the most lavish - and unsuccessful - in the short history of the internet. The two companies announced their union in 2000 at a cost of $350bn to create AOL Time Warner.

AOL's fortunes floundered with the dot-com crash, with the ISP haemorrhaging cash and subscribers. The two parted names last year when Time Warner shed AOL from its official title and stock ticker.