Sunrise Senior Living Fires CFO

Sunrise Senior Living has fired chief financial officer Bradley B. Rush.

The company, which operates assisted-living homes and other facilities for seniors, had suspended Rush, with pay, on April 23 after concluding "that actions taken by Mr. Rush were not consistent with the document retention directives issued by the company."

That followed a previous announcement that a special committee was reviewing insider sales, the company's historical stock-option practices, and the accounting treatment of transactions in an earlier restatement.

According to Sunrise's announcement on Thursday, Rush was terminated for cause, and will not receive severance payments that would have been due him had he resigned.

Rush could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Sunrise previously announced that chief accounting officer Julie A. Pangelinan, who joined the company last year, will take on the additional position of acting chief financial officer. Previously, she was vice president for accounting policy at Marriott International.

Last July, Sunrise disclosed that would restate its results from 1999 through 2005 to adjust the accounting treatment related to ventures that contain partner preferences and to the timing of sale accounting and recognition of income from prior sales of real estate. At the time, the company expected that the restatement would reduce net income by between $60 million and $110 million, but that a substantial majority would be recaptured in 2006 and 2007.

In January, Sunrise announced that it would delay filing its restatement, adding that it would be unable to file its 2006 quarterly and annual reports by March 1, as planned.