In August 2008, EY agreed to pay more than $2.9 million to the SEC to settle charges that it violated ethics rules by co-producing a series of audio CDs with a man who was also a director at three of EY's audit clients. According to the SEC, EY collaborated with Mark C. Thompson between 2002 and 2004 to produce a series of audio CDs called The Ernst & Young Thought Leaders Series. Thompson served on the boards at several of EY's clients during the period when the CDs were produced. What threats to independence existed in the relationship between EY and Thompson? From an ethical perspective, would it have mattered if it was not an audit client but one for whom advisory services only were performed?