No Answers for ChoicePoint Shareholders

ChoicePoint Inc. Chief Executive Derek Smith declined to answer questions Thursday about the security breach that allowed criminals to access the company’s database, telling shareholders at their annual meeting that the matter was the subject of pending litigation.

“As we have previously disclosed, the company is continuing to investigate the recent fraudulent data access and other matters,” Smith told about a dozen shareholders at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.

The Alpharetta, Ga.-based company announced in February that the personal information of 145,000 Americans may have been compromised when thieves posing as legitimate small-business customers gained access to its database. Authorities say at least 750 people were defrauded in the scam. The scandal has fueled calls for federal oversight of the data-brokering business, and Capitol Hill hearings are expected.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission have begun investigations of ChoicePoint.