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• eBook-Kapitel aus dem Buch Accounting Fraud

  Case 18: Qwest Communications International (2002)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 122 Case 18: Qwest Communications International (2002) Denver, Colorado-based Qwest Communications… …revenue im- mediately rather than rateably. The fraud surfaced in the summer of 2002, after several critics had publicly ques- tioned why Qwest was… …billionaire investor Philip F. Anschutz (the company’s founder) resigned as chairman of the board. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 123 The… …. “Accounting rules, policies or controls that in- terfered with meeting revenue targets were stretched or ignored outright, creating an environment for fraud… …. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 124 Eventually, Qwest understated USD 231 million in expenses from 1999 to 2002, relating to employee vacations… …former CEO Joseph Nacchio and six other execu- tives with engineering a “massive financial fraud” at the telecommunications com- pany. “This was definitely… …of fear” and enormous pressure on employees to meet those targets. Former CFO Robin Szeliga (who was described as the “overseer of the fraud… …cluded a suspension from appearing or practicing before the SEC as an accountant. Ex-CEO Joseph Nacchio attacked the SEC’s fraud case against him as “a… …collection of unsupported allegations”. In April 2007, however, while still facing the SEC lawsuit that accused him of accounting fraud, Nacchio was… …generated by sell- Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 125 ing services on Qwest’s network was not increasing as Nacchio had projected. Also, other…

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  Case 19: Adelphia Communications (2002)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 126 Case 19: Adelphia Communications (2002) The Adelphia case ranks among the biggest corporate fraud… …, Adelphia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 127 On July 24, 2002, federal prosecutors arrested… …. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 128 Adelphia deliberately shifted liabilities onto the books of unconsolidated Rigas en- tities. The company created a… …capable” a greater percentage of its cable plant that in fact had been upgraded. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 129 Third, Adelphia… …While most of the fraud took its form in hidden debt and misrepresentations con- cerning operational performance, the Adelphia case is especially notable… …: Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 130 – The Rigases created a special accounting system to mask their personal transactions, using the company’s… …disclosed to investors. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 131 The SEC investigation found that chairman John Rigas and his sons had… …sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentence was among the harshest handed down in any U.S. court for accounting fraud. The Rigas’s cases were low-hanging… …715 million. The funds were to be used to compensate Adelphia security holders who lost money as a result of the fraud. Adelphia and the Rigases also… …resolved civil fraud charges as part of a joint settlement with the SEC. In July 2006, the company sold substantially all of its assets, including the…

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  Case 20: AOL Time Warner (2002)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 133 Case 20: AOL Time Warner (2002) AOL Time Warner Inc. was formed by the merger of AOL and Time Warner… …started to flatten. It was during this period that AOL engaged in accounting fraud to mask the fact that it was also beginning to experience a rapid… …transactions”, in which AOL and its counterparties falsely created and reported revenue Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 134 In September 2000, for… …parties it referred to PurchasePro entered into commercial arrangements with this company. AOL essentially paid third parties to Accounting Fraud in… …flow as well as under- statements of total debt). Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 136 The accounting irregularities at AOL occurred before… …consequence of the fraud), the merged company dropped “AOL” from its corporate name. The move was widely seen as an admission that the 2001 merger had failed… …. In December 2004, Time Warner agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Justice USD 210 million, in order to settle criminal fraud charges related to AOL… …. How- ever, it did not admit any fault. In March 2005, Time Warner announced a separate USD 300 million settlement of civil fraud charges filed by the… …to US-GAAP. In August 2005, Time Warner reached a USD 2.5 billion settlement to securities fraud litigation. The money was paid to shareholders… …fraud class-action settlements ever. Obviously, Time Warner was eager to get the AOL affair behind it. Time Warner chairman and chief executive Richard…

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  Case 21: HealthSouth (2003)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 138 Case 21: HealthSouth (2003) In 2002, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia and several other U.S. companies joined… …2003, the SEC charged HealthSouth and its founder, chairman and CEO, Richard M. Scrushy, with accounting fraud. SEC director of enforcement Stephen… …revenues to derive net Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 139 revenues, which were disclosed on the periodic reports filed with the SEC. Because… …PricewaterhouseCoopers found additional fraud and concluded that HealthSouth’s cumulative earnings were overstated by at least USD 3.8 billion. PwC’s post-mortem report… …forensic experts (brought in by HealthSouth’s law firm to unravel the scheme) described the recipe for the fraud as follows: take legitimate numbers… …“Transmittal 1753”) for reduced future earnings. Transmittal 1753 Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 140 required certain healthcare providers to bill… …, the fraud’s impact was greater than USD 4 billion. But the fraud didn’t end there. In late 2003, federal law enforcement officials began to… …investigate Medicare fraud at HealthSouth, after a Texas jury had awarded USD 1.5 million in damages to the former medical director of a Houston hospital, Dr… …belonged in a psychiatric facility, not a rehab facility, but we had a bed available and we were encouraged to take them.” “In this sea of fraud, is it… …they exercise their fiduciary duty and responsibility to sharehold- ers?” However, the auditors, Ernst & Young, disavowed knowledge of the fraud…

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  Case 22: Symbol Technologies (2004)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 144 Case 22: Symbol Technologies (2004) To the outside world, Symbol Technologies, Inc. was an icon of… …Holtsville, New York-based com- pany was more fittingly viewed as a classic case study in accounting fraud. “This was a veritable playbook of corporate… …fraud,” the chief prosecutor, Roslynn R. Mauskopf, said. “They cooked the books every which way they could. The execu- tive misconduct was breathtaking in… …its scope.” The investigation of fraud at Symbol began in April 2001 with an anonymous letter sent to the SEC. The letter described two specific… …charged 11 former Symbol executives with securities fraud. According to the Commission, the wide-ranging deception ran from at least 1998 until early… …, they were induced to place orders by the following common features of the “Frank spe- cials” (see SEC 2004): Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies… …manipulating raw data to match the forecasts given to analysts. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 146 Cookie jar reserves Company executives also… …picked” from a 30-day “look-back period” so as to reduce the cost of the exercise to the executives. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 147… …In addition to committing fraud, some of the executives engaged in efforts to cover up the misconduct and to impede the SEC’s investigation as well as… …sanitize” key portions of schedules that they intended to provide to the investigators. The fraud at Symbol was orchestrated by CEO Tomo Razmilovic…

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  Case 23: Computer Associates International (2004)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 149 Case 23: Computer Associates International (2004) Computer Associates International, Inc. may not be… …on a shenanigan called the “Extended Quarters Practice”. In September 2004, the SEC filed securities fraud charges against Computer Associates, Kumar… …, Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 150 when the company reported USD 557 million in revenues beyond the USD 1.047 billion it could properly claim. Thus… …unexpired portion of the old license. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 151 For contracts under its pre-2000 business model, Computer Associates… …. Thus, the USD 3.7 million essen- tially amounted to hush money. In April 2006, Kumar pleaded guilty to accounting fraud charges. Along with Stephen… …sentenced to 12 years in prison for orchestrating the accounting fraud at Computer Associates; he was also fined USD 8 million. Judge Leo Glasser repeatedly… …other things, donations to tsunami relief in Sri Lanka; girls’ education programs in Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 152 Kenya; emergency… …225 million to a restitution fund in order to compensate victims of the fraud. It also agreed to take various steps to strengthen its corporate… …monitoring for at least 18 months. In 2006, as part of an attempt to improve its image in the wake of the fraud charges, Computer Associates changed its… …involved in day-to- day matters. But Wang blamed his hand-picked successor Sanjay Kumar and other company executives for the fraud. Wang, the owner of the…

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  Case 24: AIG (2005)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 155 Case 24: AIG (2005) In his 38 years as CEO of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), Maurice… …AIG were three primary areas of fraud (see SEC 2009): – Sham reinsurance transactions with General Re Corp. (“Gen Re”), in order to make it appear… …boosted AIG’s net investment income and allowed it to improperly recognize capital gains Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 156 The “Gen… …. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 157 The transactions to misstate net investment income and capital gains Another set of transactions was designed… …General Eliot Spitzer. “And yet, top management routinely and persistently resorted to deception and fraud in an apparent effort to improve the company’s… …over securities fraud and improper accounting by paying USD 800 million in fines and disgorgement. Settlement of these issues with New York State… …authorities as well as the Department of Justice resulted in payment of another USD 800 million. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 158 Eventually… …, in August 2009, the SEC announced an agreement with Greenberg to settle the accusations that he oversaw the accounting fraud at AIG. The SEC com-… …Greenberg was liable as a “control person” during the fraud, but it had not accused him of fraud directly. Under the settlement, 84 year-old Greenberg… …defiant statement saying that he had “no responsibility” for the fraud at AIG and that the vast majority of the re- statement was “unnecessary”. But he…

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  Case 25: Bernard Madoff (2008)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 159 Case 25: Bernard Madoff (2008) In December 2008, as the global financial crisis continued on its… …stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions”, and the Economist called it “the con of the century”. Needless to say, the unprecedented scope of… …the fraud was far beyond the reach of all of the other recent scandals of the financial system. Bernard Madoff started his financial career at… …appeared to believe in loyalty and Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 160 honesty,” said one former Madoff employee in retrospect. “Never in your… …profits generated by share trading. Eventually, Madoff admitted in this conversation that he estimated the losses from the fraud were at least USD 50… …, and charged with securities fraud. When federal agents arrived at Madoffs’ apartment, he told them: “There is no innocent explanation. I have paid… …simplicity, one of the most puzzling issues of the Madoff fraud was that the majority of the victims had an expert knowledge of financial investment: they… …Wall Street, there had been scepticism for years over how Madoff managed to pay such consistently high Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 161… …returns. The SEC admitted that it had missed “repeated opportunities” to discover the fraud. It had received “credible and specific allegations regarding… …than each final investor. Thus, he was able to avoid the SEC disclosure rules. But when the SEC changed regula- Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies…

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  Case 26: Juergen Schneider (Germany, 1994)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …165 2.2 Accounting Fraud in European Companies Case 26: Juergen Schneider (Germany, 1994) Up to the year 1994, a number of scandals… …over mismanagement and fraud emerged in Germany, but the “Schneider case” was by far the biggest. The case is linked to an exceptional bank scandal. In… …for several years before collapsing and casting Schneider under the suspicion of credit fraud, fraudulent invocation of bankruptcy and tax evasion. He… …verified something as basic as the size of the property it was lending on. Accounting Fraud in European Companies 166 Schneider also appeared… …explic- itly whether there were any supplementary contracts. Deutsche Bank claimed that it was the victim of systematic fraud. Hilmar Kopper, at the… …contractors and craftsmen, causing repeated embarrassment. Bank credi- Accounting Fraud in European Companies 167 tors demanded detailed information… …properties and paying off contractors. Instead he chose to run away. Accounting Fraud in European Companies 168 The reason for all the public… ….: Great Financial Disasters of our Time, 2nd edition, Berlin 2006, p. 27 Schneider fraud inquiry launched, The Independent, April 15, 1994 Kohl Assails… …Banks in Schneider Fiasco, International Herald Tribune, April 21, 1994 Deutsche Bank “victim of fraud”, The Independent, April 26, 1994 When the Music… …Independent, July 6, 1994 German Fraud Case May Raise Conflict, The New York Times, May 25, 1995 International Business: Germans Are Gripped by the Return of…

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  Case 27: Flowtex (Germany, 2000)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in European Companies 169 Case 27: Flowtex (Germany, 2000) The allegedly biggest case of accounting fraud in post-war… …Germany reached a cli- max when the managers of “Flowtex Technologie GmbH & Co. KG” received jail terms of up to 12 years after being convicted of fraud… …executives to live luxurious lives, involving grand houses, chalets, yachts, private jets, and valuable paintings. The fraud was “of a scope without… …digging up road surfaces. In sale-and-lease-back transactions, the drilling machines were re-leased from over 60 leasing companies. The fraud was quite… …of Flowtex, referred to as “service partners”) until there were apparently some 3,400 machines on the company’s books. Once the fraud started, the… …documentation for the individual machines were changed, so that everything seemed to be in order. The classic signs of fraud had been apparent for some time… …line and refused to have anything to do with the company in the future. Accounting Fraud in European Companies 170 The number of leased… …so-called “whistleblower”) had exposed the fraud, because he alleg- edly wanted to warn investors. Shortly afterwards, the Flowtex group collapsed; Manfred… …Schmider, chief executive, and his deputy, Dr. Klaus Kleiser, were ar- rested and charged with fraud. Schmider and Kleiser had concluded 3,411 leasing… …Schmider and Kleiser, Accounting Fraud in European Companies 171 the two company directors, were courted by politicians of all parties as model…

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