1.   Company executives sold stock and collected bonuses based on the inflated profits, the SEC contended.

2.   Having won that fight, these companies can continue to report inflated profits.

3.   In these cases, trial lawyers are arguing that HMO policies that ration health care amount to criminal schemes that secure inflated profits for insurers.

4.   Investigators found a string of shell companies, phony transactions, inflated profit statements and questionable payments to insiders.

5.   Investigators found a string of shell companies, straw buyers, phony transactions, inflated profit statements and questionable payments to insiders.

6.   Members of a House Financial Services subcommittee demanded to know how Andersen auditors failed to realize that Enron had falsely inflated profits.

7.   The inflated profits helped drive up the share price of CUC International, making the company more attractive to potential acquirers and benefiting shareholders, including company executives.

8.   The inflated profits, state officials said, helped to drive up the share price of CUC and make it attractive to potential merger partners.

9.   The report said Leeson lacked trading experience, booked fictitious trades and inflated profits.

10.   They are detectives, sifting through balance sheets as they hunt for hidden problems or inflated profits.