The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the Houston oil and gas company Alta Mesa Resources for potential fraud amid admitted failures in its financial reporting, the Houston Chronicle reported. The one-year-old company, put together by the former chief executive of Anadarko Petroleum with the backing of private equity money, was already struggling to survive following a $3.1 billion write-down of its assets attributed to undisclosed flaws in its financial accounting. The company has declined to elaborate on the nature of its internal financial errors. The company has laid off roughly one-third of its 200 employees this year. With its stock trading at 18 cents a share as of Friday, the company’s market value has plunged to just over $30 million from more than $3 billion early last year. Alta Mesa said is considering a potential bankruptcy filing in the months ahead as it deals with defaults on loan agreements and delisting warnings from the Nasdaq stock exchange, Alta Mesa acknowledged Friday a belated annual report filing with the SEC. Alta Mesa has yet to report its first quarter earnings, but said in its filing that it estimates a $13 million loss for the first three months of the years.
