Stemming from a 2002 investigation into fraudulent accounting practices, the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil lawsuits against eight former America Online executives.

The SEC said the execs either made or contributed to financial statements that fraudulently inflated the company's online advertising revenues by more than $1 billion between 2000 and 2002.

AOL parent Time Warner agreed in late 2004 and early 2005 to pay $300 million in a settlement with the SEC and $210 million to resolve separate charges filed by the Justice Department.

Apparently that wasn't enough to satisfy the feds.

"From our perspective, this is one of most egregious accounting frauds in recent memory," Scott W. Friestad, associate director of the SEC's enforcement division, was quoted as saying in a Washington Post article.

According to the Associated Press, four of the executives -- David Colburn, Eric Keller, Jay Rappaport and James MacGuidwin -- have agreed to settle the charges against them by paying a total of roughly $8 million in fines and returning allegedly ill-gotten gains. Charges are still outstanding against John Michael Kelly, former AOL Time Warner chief financial officer; Joseph Ripp, ex-chief financial officer of the AOL division; Steven Rindner, a former senior executive in the business affairs unit, and Mark Wovsaniker, former head of accounting policy.