Saks Inquiry Widens

New York, The SEC has expanded its investigation of Saks Fifth Avenue collections to include chargebacks—the deductions merchants take on payments to apparel makers for supposedly defective or unwanted goods.

Although the retailer announced Monday that it can find no evidence of improper collections, the SEC considers its current examination, which began in early March, still open, and it can be expanded to include any indications of wrongdoing that may emerge.

Within the last month, Saks apparently has begun to return some money collected during 2004. And, on Monday, the Saks, Inc. board said it had found evidence of overcollection of vendor allowances and fired three top executives.