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Nine Ahold Vendors Charged With Conspiracy, U.S. Says (Update1)
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Nine vendors for a U.S. unit of Royal Ahold NV, the world's fourth-largest retailer, were charged in connection with a scheme that allowed company executives to inflate earnings by more than $800 million, federal prosecutors said.

The vendors conspired to create false accounting records for the unit, U.S. Foodservice, U.S. Attorney David Kelley in Manhattan said in a statement today. The false records enabled the executives to conceal their scheme to inflate company earnings, he said.

Prosecutors previously accused two former U.S. Foodservice executives with inflating earnings. No additional U.S. Foodservice officials were charged today.

Ahold said last year it overstated profit by 970 million euros and inflated sales in the prior three years. Most of the earnings inflation took place at U.S. Foodservice. The company improperly booked revenue from joint ventures such as ICA in Sweden by claiming it entirely controlled those businesses.

Ahold spokesman Walter Samuels declined to comment on the charges. Kelley scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference to detail the charges. The nine people charged worked for companies that sold food and food-related produced to U.S. Foodservice, Kelley said.

The vendors ``allegedly carried out the scheme by signing false audit confirmation letters overstating amounts'' owed to U.S. Foodservice, Kelley said.