Chapman takes aim at Vitesse CFO following auditing firm trouble

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 15 - Shareholder Robert L. Chapman, Jr. of Chapman Capital LLC sent to Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. chief financial officer Richard C. Yonker an article detailing a ruling in the BDO Seidman LLP negligence suit.

Chapman said he wanted to gauge Yonker's reaction to the potential impact of the $170 million, gross negligence jury ruling against BDO Seidman, Vitesse's independent auditor.

The correspondence was included in a schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Chapman's Chap-Cap also reported the purchase of 6,670,814 shares of the company's stock between June 18 and Aug. 14, priced between $1.13 and $1.19 each, in the SEC filing.

On July 30, Chapman Capital said it would "immediately begin the process of soliciting proxies from shareholders" to replace all or part of the company's board of directors after filing a DEFN14A report with the SEC.

As previously reported, the investor said it made the decision "following an exhaustive, one-year effort to encourage the board to come into compliance with core, generally accepted corporate governance standards."

Chapman Capital is seeking to replace Christopher Gardner, Edward Rogas, Vincent Chan, Alex Daly and Willow Shire. At the time of the announcement, Chapman owned 7.2% of the Camarillo, Calif., semiconductor solution development company.

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