The Trial Balance is CFO.com’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — The former COO of a Philadelphia medical company consents to a final judgment.
A nearly five-year-old fraud case against the former chief operating officer of a Philadelphia medical technology company has officially closed.
On May 8, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that the U.S. District Court in New Jersey had issued a final judgment in a civil case against Joseph Geromini, previously the chief operating officer of Group K Diagnostics. The company, now known as HueDx, provides point-of-care diagnostic testing. Per the terms of the judgment, Geromini is barred from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.
The SEC’s May 8 release noted that Geromini neither denied nor admitted the allegations in its complaint, which accused the man of lying and stealing more than $200,000 from investors and then using the funds “for personal expenses including a car, cosmetic surgery, a vacation, and other entertainment.”
Per the complaint, Geromini also “disseminated false and misleading securities offering documents and financial models to existing and prospective Group K investors that failed to account for his ongoing theft.”
“Geromini even told investors — falsely — that ‘every penny’ of their money would be used in a meaningful, productive manner, when the opposite was true,” the SEC’s complaint stated.
The SEC alleged such actions took place between August 2018 and May 2019.
The SEC said Geromini in 2023 pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal case brought by the federal government. In June of 2025, he was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home confinement, plus three years of supervised release. Geromini was also ordered to pay $98,083 in restitution.
Part 2 — This week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, May 18 — None scheduled.
Tuesday, May 19
- Pending home sales, April
Wednesday, May 20
Thursday, May 21
- Initial jobless claims, week ending May 16
- Housing starts, April
- Building permits, April
- Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey, May
- S&P flash U.S. services PMI, May
- S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI, May
Friday, May 22
- Consumer sentiment, May final
- U.S. leading economic indicators, April
Part 3 — Quote of the week
“Curiosity is the No. 1 trait I look for. If you’re genuinely curious about building relationships, about the person sitting across from you or about how things show up in the financials, you become a much more well-rounded person.”
Matt Frazee
CFO, National Life Group
In an interview with CFO.com, National Life Group CFO Matt Frazee discusses the advice he would give to a young person considering a finance career. He also talks through his career journey and the state of the insurance business these days.
