- Florence Cohen, an 85-year-old New York grandmother, is suing Grand Theft Auto's Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive Software, "on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide".
She's accusing the company of, "false advertising, consumer deception and unfair business practices," says the Associated Press.
Cohen, who's looking for unspecified damages, says she bought GTA: San Andreas in late 2004 for her grandson. At the time, it was rated ‘M’ for mature, for players 17 and older, says AP.
Take-Two initially lied about the hidden sex section, but later admitted it was indeed part of GTA: San Andreas.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) reluctantly upped GTA Sex to AO for Adults Only and it was subsequently taken off sales shelves.
Rockstar and Take Two, “regret that consumers may have been exposed to content that was not intended to be accessible in the playable version of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas','' Take Two said in a patently disengenuous statement quoted by AP.
Fraudulent accounting But lying is nothing new to Take-Two or the people behind it.
Last month Ryan Brant, its former executive vpt and coo Larry Muller, its former cfo, James David, Jr, and current vp of sales Robert Blau.
The SEC says "Those practices allowed Take-Two to consistently meet or exceed analysts' predictions regarding its earnings per share during all four quarters of fiscal year 2000 and to meet certain financial targets which triggered the payment of substantial bonuses to Brant, Muller and David."
According to the commission's complaint, "Take-Two systematically recognized sales revenue from approximately 180 'parking' transactions in which the company, at or near the end of fiscal quarters or year end, shipped hundreds of thousands of video games to distributors who had no obligation to pay for the product, fraudulently recorded the shipments as if they were sales, and then accepted return of the games in subsequent reporting periods.
"In many cases, Take-Two created fraudulent invoices to disguise the returns as 'purchases of assorted product.' Take-Two also improperly recognized sales revenue for games that were still being manufactured and could not in fact be shipped, and in fiscal year 2000, improperly accounted for the acquisition of two video game publishers."
Take-Two's fraudulent accounting practices, "allowed it to improperly recognize approximately $60 million in revenue during 2000 and 2001, and report after-tax fiscal year 2000 earnings that were inflated by $20 million," states the SEC.
The company will pay $8.75 million in penalties and more than $5.1 million in "disgorgement and prejudgment interest".
See:- Associated Press - Grandmother sues game maker over hidden sex in 'GTA', July 27, 2005 explicit sex module - San Andreas and Hot Coffee, p2pnet, July 9, 2005 AO for Adults Only - Grand Sex Auto gets AO rating, p2pnet, July 21, 2005 SEC - SEC SUES TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. AND FOUR SENIOR EXECUTIVES FOR ACCOUNTING FRAUD, June 9, 2005 Ryan Brant - Take down Take-Two, p2pnet, January 2, 2004
