₦airaland Forum

If there is one theme to rival terrorism for defining the last decade-and-a-half, it would have to be corporate greed and malfeasance. Many of the biggest corporate accounting scandals in history happened during that time. Here's a chronological look back at some of the worst examples.

Waste Management Scandal (1998)
Company: Houston-based publicly traded waste management company
What happened: Reported $1.7 billion in fake earnings.
Main players: Founder/CEO/Chairman Dean L. Buntrock and other top executives; Arthur Andersen Company (auditors)
How they did it: The company allegedly falsely increased the depreciation time length for their property, plant and equipment on the balance sheets.
How they got caught: A new CEO and management team went through the books.
Penalties: Settled a shareholder class-action suit for $457 million. SEC fined ArthurAndersen $7 million.
Fun fact: After the scandal, new CEO A. Maurice Meyers set up an anonymous company hotline where employees could report dishonest or improper behavior.

Enron Scandal (2001)
Company: Houston-based commodities, energy and service corporation
What happened: Shareholders lost $74 billion, thousands of employees and investors lost their retirement accounts, and many employees lost their jobs.
Main players: CEO Jeff Skilling and former CEO Ken Lay.
How they did it: Kept huge debts off balance sheets.
How they got caught: Turned in by internal whistleblower Sherron Watkins; high stock prices fueled external suspicions.
Penalties: Lay died before serving time; Skilling got 24 years in prison. The company filed for bankruptcy. Arthur Andersen was found guilty of fudging Enron's accounts.
Fun fact: Fortune Magazine named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" 6 years in a row prior to the scandal.

WorldCom Scandal (2002)
Company: Telecommunications company; now MCI, Inc.
What happened: Inflated assets by as much as $11 billion, leading to 30,000 lost jobs and $180 billion in losses for investors.
Main player: CEO Bernie Ebbers
How he did it: Underreported line costs by capitalizing rather than expensing and inflated revenues with fake accounting entries.
How he got caught: WorldCom's internal auditing department uncovered $3.8 billion of fraud.
Penalties: CFO was fired, controller resigned, and the company filed for bankruptcy. Ebbers sentenced to 25 years for fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents with regulators.
Fun fact: Within weeks of the scandal, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, introducing the most sweeping set of new business regulations since the 1930s.

Tyco Scandal (2002)
Company: New Jersey-based blue-chip Swiss security systems.
What happened: CEO and CFO stole $150 million and inflated company income by $500 million.
Main players: CEO Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz.
How they did it: Siphoned money through unapproved loans and fraudulent stock sales. Money was smuggled out of company disguised as executive bonuses or benefits.
How they got caught: SEC and Manhattan D.A. investigations uncovered questionable accounting practices, including large loans made to Kozlowski that were then forgiven.
Penalties: Kozlowski and Swartz were sentenced to 8-25 years in prison. A class-action lawsuit forced Tyco to pay $2.92 billion to investors.
Fun fact: At the height of the scandal Kozlowski threw a $2 million birthday party for his wife on a Mediterranean island, complete with a Jimmy Buffet performance.

HealthSouth Scandal (2003)
Company: Largest publicly traded health care company in the U.S.
What happened: Earnings numbers were allegedly inflated $1.4 billion to meet stockholder expectations.
Main player: CEO Richard Scrushy.
How he did it: Allegedly told underlings to make up numbers and transactions from 1996-2003.
How he got caught: Sold $75 million in stock a day before the company posted a huge loss, triggering SEC suspicions.
Penalties: Scrushy was acquitted of all 36 counts of accounting fraud, but convicted of bribing the governor of Alabama, leading to a 7-year prison sentence.
Fun fact: Scrushy now works as a motivational speaker and maintains his innocence.

Freddie Mac (2003)
Company: Federally backed mortgage-financing giant.
What happened: $5 billion in earnings were misstated.
Main players: President/COO David Glenn, Chairman/CEO Leland Brendsel, ex-CFO Vaughn Clarke, former senior VPs Robert Dean and Nazir Dossani.
How they did it: Intentionally misstated and understated earnings on the books.
How they got caught: An SEC investigation.
Penalties: $125 million in fines and the firing of Glenn, Clarke and Brendsel.
Fun fact: 1 year later, the other federally backed mortgage financing company, Fannie Mae, was caught in an equally stunning accounting scandal.

American International Group (AIG) Scandal (2005)
Company: Multinational insurance corporation.
What happened: Massive accounting fraud to the tune of $3.9 billion was alleged, along with bid-rigging and stock price manipulation.
Main player: CEO Hank Greenberg.
How he did it: Allegedly booked loans as revenue, steered clients to insurers with whom AIG had payoff agreements, and told traders to inflate AIG stock price.
How he got caught: SEC regulator investigations, possibly tipped off by a whistleblower.
Penalties: Settled with the SEC for $10 million in 2003 and $1.64 billion in 2006, with a Louisiana pension fund for $115 million, and with 3 Ohio pension funds for $725 million. Greenberg was fired, but has faced no criminal charges.
Fun fact: After posting the largest quarterly corporate loss in history in 2008 ($61.7 billion) and getting bailed out with taxpayer dollars, AIG execs rewarded themselves with over $165 million in bonuses.

Lehman Brothers Scandal (2008)
Company: Global financial services firm.
What happened: Hid over $50 billion in loans disguised as sales.
Main players: Lehman executives and the company's auditors, Ernst & Young.
How they did it: Allegedly sold toxic assets to Cayman Island banks with the understanding that they would be bought back eventually. Created the impression Lehman had $50 billion more cash and $50 billion less in toxic assets than it really did.
How they got caught: Went bankrupt.
Penalties: Forced into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. SEC didn't prosecute due to lack of evidence.
Fun fact: In 2007 Lehman Brothers was ranked the #1 "Most Admired Securities Firm" by Fortune Magazine.

Bernie Madoff Scandal (2008)
Company: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was a Wall Street investment firm founded by Madoff.
What happened: Tricked investors out of $64.8 billion through the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
Main players: Bernie Madoff, his accountant, David Friehling, and Frank DiPascalli.
How they did it: Investors were paid returns out of their own money or that of other investors rather than from profits.
How they got caught: Madoff told his sons about his scheme and they reported him to the SEC. He was arrested the next day.
Penalties: 150 years in prison for Madoff + $170 billion restitution. Prison time for Friehling and DiPascalli.
Fun fact: Madoff's fraud was revealed just months after the 2008 U.S. financial collapse.

Satyam Scandal (2009)
Company: Indian IT services and back-office accounting firm.
What happened: Falsely boosted revenue by $1.5 billion.
Main player: Founder/Chairman Ramalinga Raju.
How he did it: Falsified revenues, margins and cash balances to the tune of 50 billion rupees.
How he got caught: Admitted the fraud in a letter to the company's board of directors.
Penalties: Raju and his brother charged with breach of trust, conspiracy, cheating and falsification of records. Released after the Central Bureau of Investigation failed to file charges on time.
Fun fact: In 2011 Ramalinga Raju's wife published a book of his existentialist, free-verse poetry.

Source:http://www.accounting-degree.org/scandals/
Cc: Ishilove
Lalasticlala

Nice

Alright

Rotimi47:
This is what Amechi gets as result of ganging up with saraki against Tinubu who happen to be the back bone of APC, Tinubu is a genius who doesn't have anything to lose as he have no political ambition.

Ogbeni what has Tinubu got to do with this? Abeg stop hyping him joor. This is south south politics. Was Tinubu not alive when APC got less than 10% of votes casted in Rivers state during the last election? It was of public knowledge that the said election was a sham, from the fact that Inec never released the voters register to Rsiec due to the short notice given and ofcourse, the issue of the court injunction that was ignored.

Wealth

mrvitalis:
His father is very rich I know and as fear as it not kaduna money.... who cares?

How did his father become rich? Maybe you should help us with the name of his father's company listed on the Nigerian exchange.

LueDaveLOVESYOU:
[size=18pt] 1. Wah currency is dat?


2. Which nigeria are u talkn bout coz 60% of nigerians live above 5$/day[/size]

Where did you get your stats from? $5 a day is more than #1000 going by the ruling rate as of today. Maybe we start this way... How much is your Maiguard paid? Or you think 60% of Nigerians are the ones you bump into in shoprite? Though, not saying shoprite is for the rich buh I can tell you that the 60% your referring to can't afford to take their family to shoprite to have a nice time. My guy, Nigeria is rich while Nigerians are poor.

Doctors in the house please this dude needs some quality medical advice. And moving it to front page will equally help. God bless you all.


Cc: Ishilove
Lalasticlala. Hope I got that right

Touché

Wow

Touching

Interesting

Guy don't even think of it. Its really none of your business. They will use you to settle their quarell. Enough said already.

ellahzy:
heaven help those who help themselves.
Read first nd write wat u know.
0/100

He/ She is looking for testimony to give in church



RUBBISH!!!

Wrong! Heaven help those who can't help themselves.

Wow... Really nobody ever became poor by giving. Such a kind gesture will inspire loyalty.

babeface3:
I am really choked up by the CBN strict deadline but was able to register one out of my three accounts. I will simply move all my monies in the other accounts with other banks before 00 hours tonight funny that the banks did not know in what ways not devoting time to always remind customers of this could affect them. In a way that they should employed same marketing skills and styled.

You register for BVN once, then you take the BVN to other banks where you have accounts for submission. Your not expected to register for BVN more than once ooo.

Reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Department of State Sevice, DSS, to arrest his wife’s younger brother, Musa Yola, over suspicion of fraud, are untrue.

PREMIUM TIMES contacted presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, and he categorically denied the reports.
“It is definitely not true, there is no iota of truth on this report there is no basis for the president to do that,” Mr. Shehu said.

Also, the man who is said to have been arrested, Mr. Yola, called PREMIUM TIMES and said he was shocked to see reports of his purported arrests in the social media.

“As we speak, I am in the President’s office and I was with him last night,” he said.

Mr. Yola also said he has never been involved in forgery or fraud and has never been arrested by either the Police or SSS or any security agency for that matter.

He also said he has never been to any police station or SSS office as an accused person.

“I simply don’t know or understand who is behind these malicious rumours,” he said.

Reports posted online said President Buhari ordered the DSS to arrest Mr. Yola after he duped a businessman N300 million promising to aid him acquire an oil bloc.

The reports also said Mr. Yola had refunded the money and that he was granted bail by the SSS.

The spokesperson of the SSS, Marilyn Ogar, could not be reached Monday.

However, a source in the DSS confirmed to us that “there was no such order from the President”.

He also said the SSS had no one in detention bearing the name Musa Yola in recent times.

Source:http://sunnewsonline.com/new/buhari-has-not-ordered-arrest-of-brother-in-law/.

Funny

Sad

Thats true... One month gone already.

Touché

Alright

Ok

Really?

This goes to show we have a fundamental issue in this country we really need to address. Until we begin to see ourselves as Nigerians first before anything else we will be fooling ourselves. Don't blame anambarians though, Northern leaders are to blame for playing politics with the security of their region.

Touche

ydass:
Nice try son of hate! You love the kind of impunity and gross mismanagement of public fund displayed by the PDP lead government? You need proper examination. Your prayer for the government to fail will never come to past.

What are you saying? Who is more PDP than Saraki, Atiku, Dogara, Amaechi, Tambuwal, Kwankwasor, Rochas etc The same pillars of the so-called progressive party. Abeg shine your eye ooo. There is no difference between APC and PDP, at least the recent fracas in the house proves it all.

The leadership of the Apc still don't understand how house politics is played. Once your on the loosing side you will remain there till the end of that dispensation. Giving directives to the speaker on who to make a principal officer will never fly. Those principal positions is the only way the speaker can reward his inner caucus in the house that fought for the victory.
In addition to the earlier comment. The leadership of the Apc should forget about Femi and Lawan, they are losers. That maybe harsh buh its the truth. If they are aggrevied, they should leave the party. The clock is ticking and Nigerians are loosing patience. The leadership of the party should now focus on delivering their campaign promises to the people. Godbless Nigeria.

Its really sad and at this point one will be tempted to ask , is development made for man or man made for development?

ChiamakaOkoye:
Lol Vino thanks! Just dey pray make we get am

Your in already. Congrats in advance!

ChiamakaOkoye:
Hey guys, just got my success mail. Told me to come for documentation on 24th by 10 - 12. Anyone else gotten theirs?

Computer congrats. Am proud of you!... Vino