Federal regulators have notified Beazer Homes USA Inc. that its top executive could face civil charges over incentive compensation.

The notification comes more than a year after the Atlanta-based homebuilder settled a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its financial statements.

Beazer Homes said in a regulatory filing Monday that SEC staff issued a so-called Wells notice to CEO Ian McCarthy. That means the staff intends to recommend civil charges against McCarthy for possible securities violations. Recipients of the notices can respond to the allegations before the commission decides on any enforcement action.

Beazer said McCarthy intends to respond to the notice, which is not a formal allegation nor a finding of wrongdoing.

Beazer said the SEC staff recommended action against McCarthy "to collect certain incentive compensation and other amounts allegedly due" under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The company's filing did not disclose how much compensation is involved, or other details about the disputed pay.

A vintage 55-foot yacht named "Bull" and two smaller boats that once belonged to imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff are headed for the auction block, along with an even bigger yacht once owned by Madoff's right-hand man.

Madoff's 1969 Rybovitch sportfisher, a wooden boat meticulously restored, is the prize offering at Tuesday's private auction. As of Monday, 29 people had put up a $100,000 deposit for the opportunity to bid and more were expected to register, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

"People have heard of it. It's a piece of history," said Bob Toney, president and CEO of National Liquidators, which is handling the auction for the government.

Also for sale are Madoff's 38-foot Shelter Island runabout, named "Sitting Bull," and a 24-foot Maverick center console named "Little Bull." Then there's Madoff's black 1999 Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible, which has just 12,800 miles on the odometer, and a 61-foot Viking fishing yacht formerly owned by Madoff's ex-chief financial officer, Frank DiPascali.

Together, the vessels and car could fetch several million dollars, but officials don't want to put a price tag on any particular item before the auction. Madoff's notoriety could also boost the final sales prices, said Jennifer Crane of the Marshals' asset forfeiture division.

DiMasi and three co-defendants entered the pleas Thursday during their arraignment on an expanded indictment adding extortion to earlier public corruption charges.

The original indictment alleged DiMasi and three associates rigged two lucrative state contracts for the software company Cognos in exchange for payments, with the former speaker pocketing $57,000.

A superseding indictment handed up last month added the extortion charge. It says DiMasi accepted payments from Cognos and a second member of the scheme, Joseph Lally, knowing the money was in exchange for helping the Burlington, Mass.-based firm win the contracts.

A prison inmate has pleaded not guilty to arson and murder charges for a 2003 wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and was linked to five heart attack deaths in Southern California.

San Bernardino County prosecutors say 28-year-old Rickie Lee Fowler entered his plea Thursday in Superior Court.

Fowler is already serving time in state prison for burglary. He faces five counts of murder, one count of aggravated arson and one count of arson of an inhabited structure.

The so-called Old Fire erupted in the San Bernardino Mountains above the city of San Bernardino in October 2003 and eventually swept across 140 square miles.

A pretrial hearing is set for Nov. 30. Fowler's bail has been set at $1 million.

A jury has found the former manger of a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa guilty on 86 of 91 financial fraud charges.

The verdict against Sholom Rubashkin came Thursday evening after a nearly monthlong trial.

Rubashkin was charged with bank, mail and wire fraud, money laundering and ignoring orders to pay cattle providers in the time required by federal law.

The charges were linked to Rubashkin's job as a top manager at the former Agriprocessor's plant in Postville, Iowa. He was arrested months after a May 2008 immigration raid there that led to the arrest of 389 workers.