Covering white-collar crime this weeek from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner conference in Orlando, FL.
Former Olympus CEO, Michael Woodford, Tells All - Michael Woodford told a crowd of over 2,300 fraud examiners his tale of being a whistleblower on the company that he headed. Less than 6 months after taking the helm of Olympus Corporation as its President and CEO, Woodford came across some past acquisitions that caused him concern. As he dug deeper, he realized that the company he headed was part of a multi-billion cover-up that reached the most senior levels of the company. So what did the chairman and board of directors of the Japanese company do when he asked for more answers? They fired him. His hour long talk talked of how his 30 year career at Olympus ended with his ouster and the indictment of its chairman and other senior executives.
Roger Clemens Acquitted of All Charges - Roger Clemens is innocent of lying to congress and obstructing justice according to jurors who listened to 9 weeks of a trial that put the Cy Young award winning pitcher on trial. The trial was over whether Clemens lied about steroid use in front of a congressional hearing on the matter. A black eye for the government, this brings into question whether this was worth the tax payer money spent on this trial (and the one before it that ended in a mistrial). Clemens' next challenge will be whether this acquittal is enough to get him into the Hall of Fame.
Insider Trading Plea Deal From former AT&T Employee - Another plea deal has been announced in the insider trading scheme that involved expert network firm Primary Global. Alnoor Ebrahim (57) has agreed to plead guilty for passing information from his position as associate director of channel marketing at AT&T Mobile in Atlanta, GA. The information was on Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry sales/shipments. As a consultant for Primary Global, Ebrahim was paid $180,000 for information that went to hedge funds to trade shares of the publicly traded companies of Apple and RIM. Last year, Winifred Jiau, also a consultant for Primary Global, was found guilty of passing inside information on Marvell and Nvidia. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Because of his plea agreement and the dollars involved in the trades, Ebrahim is likely to serve 18-24 months in prison.
Stanford Financial Executive to Plead Guilty - Laura Pendergest-Holt has agreed to plead guilty for her role in the Stanford Financial ponzi scheme. Less than a week after the former CEO of Stanford Financial, Allen Stanford, was sentenced to 110 years in prison, Pendergest-Holt came to an agreement with the government to plead guilty. She was originally scheduled to go to trial in September. She pled guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and will likely serve 3 years in prison. Much less than 100 years! It pays to cooperate.
