CHICAGO (AP) – The current and former executives in charge of circulation for the Chicago Sun-Times have left their jobs, two weeks after the paper’s parent company announced it had inflated its circulation numbers “for several years.”

Stephen Hastings resigned Monday as the Sun-Times’ vice president for circulation, according to the paper’s publisher, John Cruickshank.

Meanwhile, Mark Hornung, who was circulation director from 1995 through 2001, was placed on administrative leave as president and publisher of the (Tinley Park) Daily Southtown, a Sun-Times sister paper.

Hollinger International Inc., which owns the Sun-Times, said Hornung’s change in status was a consequence of an internal investigation to determine how the error occurred, the paper reported in Tuesday’s editions.

“But as we haven’t completed the investigation, it’s interim,” Cruickshank said. “There’s been no finding yet.”

Cruickshank declined to comment on Hastings’ departure.

Hornung declined to comment, and Hastings could not be reached for comment.

Hollinger International, which also owns London’s Daily Telegraph and The Jerusalem Post, did not say how much of the Sun-Times’ circulation was overstated.

Advertisers filed two lawsuits against the Sun-Times and Hollinger International in response to the company’s announcement. Advertising rates are commonly set according to a newspaper’s circulation.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations currently ranks the Sun-Times the nation’s 21st largest newspaper with a circulation of 486,936.

Michael Waters, the Daily Southtown’s editor, said he would serve as the paper’s interim publisher.

Another Chicago-based newspaper company also announced two weeks ago that it overstated circulation numbers. The Tribune Co. said circulation numbers for its New York-based Newsday and Spanish-language Hoy publications – available in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles – had been inflated.