Documents filed by Providian with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission state that Thompson was the Chairman of the Providian Audit and Compliance Committee for several years prior to his resignation to become Deputy Attorney General in mid-2001. The Complaint alleges that Thompson and other director and officer defendants knew that Providian’s financial condition was deteriorating and adopted a fraudulent scheme to delay recognition of losses from the second quarter 2001 into the third quarter 2001.