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____/ Matt on Sunday 21 September 2008 16:44 : \____
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>>
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/2a10e11ef9cbffd0?dmode=source
>>> While I was focused on Bush's handling of Microsoft, it seems that
>>> Bush was also turning a blind eye to lots of other companies' illegal
>>> business practices. In other cases, they were just unethical or
>>> unsound.
>>
>> Well, this way he could fight 'them' without having the American 'folks'
>> worry about the huge debt. The SEC must have taken a trip to Maui. They
>> failed to spot the issues in SCO just months before bankruptcy.
>
>
> SCO is peanuts except WRT the copyright/IP issue, which unless I'm wrong
> is outside SEC's realm. I think they had something like a few hundred
> employees. Anyway, it's not clear what you would have had SEC do WRT SCO.
>
> I think most people would be happier if SEC had ignored a hundred
> companies the size of SCO and instead focused on the practices that led
> to the current crisis, which could involve amounts comparable to the US
> annual budget.
Yes, I appreciate these thoughts because I totally agree and some days ago I
noticed Novell disappearing from a Bloomberg article that had been updated
twice after its initial publication. Therein, Novell expressed concerns about
the economy, indicating at at least insinuating that it may be in the mud
too. None of this is particularly surprising because Novell was at risk of
Nasdaq delisting in 2006-2007 and it had the SEC halt its report in 2007, then
launch an investigation.
Novell entered the deal with Microsoft just months or weeks after a lot of
dodgy financial stuff, including a reach to the bank (Wells Fargo, IIRC).
There's a prior kerkuffle too.
Novell fraud lawsuit settled for $13.9M.
,----[ Quote ]
| After more than seven years in the courts, Novell will spend $13.9 million to
| make a securities fraud class-action lawsuit go away.
`----
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0198-225344/Novell-fraud-lawsuit-settled-for.html
I did some sniffing around CA yesterday and the day before that. There's fraud
there which goes all the way to the top (with conviction), even fingers
pointing at the founder. They are also somewhat of a Microsoft puppet on the
face of it, just like Corel and Novell after some 'agreements'.
Oracle came under a probe too and Ellison is said to have destroyed evidence.
I'm appending some links.
What the companies tell the public is sometime based on projections and
outlooks. They can be in debt that's covered by assets and promise. You never
know until they go bust like Enron... and they 'bribe' whistleblowers to keep
it in the family, so to speak.
___
Apple options backdating litigation still not over
,----[ Quote ]
| Just when Apple watchers thought the backdated options issue was on the verge
| of being put to bed, another suit is taking the limelight.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20658/1054/
IMF'S FOUR STEPS TO DAMNATION
,----[ Quote ]
| And the US government knew it, charges Stiglitz, at least in the case
| of the biggest privatisation of all, the 1995 Russian sell-off. 'The
| US Treasury view was: "This was great, as we wanted Yeltsin
| re-elected. We DON'T CARE if it's a corrupt election." '
|
| Stiglitz cannot simply be dismissed as a conspiracy nutter. The man
| was inside the game - a member of Bill Clinton's cabinet, chairman of
| the President's council of economic advisers.
|
| Most sick-making for Stiglitz is that the US-backed oligarchs stripped
| Russia's industrial assets, with the effect that national output was
| cut nearly in half.
|
| After privatisation, Step Two is capital market liberalisation. In
| theory this allows investment capital to flow in and
| out. Unfortunately, as in Indonesia and Brazil, the money often simply
| flows out.
|
| Stiglitz calls this the 'hot money' cycle. Cash comes in for
| speculation in real estate and currency, then flees at the first whiff
| of trouble. A nation's reserves can drain in days.
`----
http://www.stallman.org/imf-damnation.html
Former Apple lawyer settles options case with SEC
,----[ Quote ]
| Former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen has settled with the SEC over
| charges that she improperly backdated stock options at the company.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10017199-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Apple agrees to pay itself $14m
,----[ Quote ]
| After an internal investigation, the company blamed ex-financial chief Fred
| Anderson and ex-general council Nancy Heinen for the trouble. Anderson
| settled with the SEC for $3.5m without admitting wrongdoing, and Heinen paid
| $2.2m just last month for a similar arrangement.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/11/apple_proposed_derivative_settlement/
Oracle's Ellison Withheld E-Mails in Suit, Judge Says (Update2)
,----[ Quote ]
| Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison deliberately destroyed or
| withheld e-mails and failed to preserve tape recordings that should have been
| turned over to lawyers for shareholders suing him, a judge ruled.
|
| U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said yesterday that the
| e-mails, as well as recordings of interviews for a book about Oracle founder
| Ellison called ``Softwar,'' were willfully withheld. Ellison and Oracle knew
| the material was potentially relevant to claims that they made false
| statements about the company's 2001 second-quarter financial results and
| problems with a software product, Illston said.
`----
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a9OHBiyXHVPQ&refer=us
SEC Foresees Rise in Fraud Cases
,----[ Quote ]
| Laying out his priorities, the new enforcement chief for the Securities and
| Exchange Commission in San Francisco said Thursday he expects an upswing in
| fraud cases against public companies.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424479239
Ex-Microsoft boss sentenced
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/371393_msftcourt19.html
Former Microsoft Manager Gets 2 Years In Jail
http://news.portalit.net/fullnews_former-microsoft-manager-gets-2-years-in-jail_1427.html
Microsoft's Accounting Under Scrutiny
,----[ Quote ]
| The company has still not made enough information public to provide analysts
| with detailed information on the profitability of its MSN Internet business,
| Mr. Galvin said, adding, ''There's still room for them to obfuscate.''
`----
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E1DC173DF932A35754C0A96F958260
Microsoft - Undeserving of Libertarian Praise
,----[ Quote ]
| One strategy that Microsoft has employed in the past is paying for the
| silence of people and companies. Charles Pancerzewski, formerly Microsoft's
| chief auditor, became aware of Microsoft's practice of carrying earnings from
| one accounting period into another, known as "managing earnings". This
| practice smoothes reported revenue streams, increases share value, and
| misleads employees and shareholders. In addition to being unethical, it's
| also illegal under U.S. Securities Law and violates Generally Accepted
| Accounting Practices (Fink). Mr. Pancerzewski claims he was forced to retire,
| for raising the issue of deferred earnings with Microsoft executives, thereby
| making plausible deniability more difficult for said executives. He has since
| sued Microsoft, who responded by settling out of court, but also sealing the
| records to prevent public disclosure (Fink).
`----
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/8/20/11034/3908
Microsoft Agrees To Refrain From Accounting Violations in SEC Settlement
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has agreed to refrain from accounting violations to settle federal
| regulators' allegations that it misrepresented its financial performance, the
| government announced Monday.
|
| Under a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the software
| giant neither admitted to nor denied wrongdoing. No fine was imposed.
|
| The SEC alleged that Microsoft's accounting practices from July 1994 through
| June 1998 caused its income to be substantially misstated.
`----
http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18819490
"Microsoft Tax," MSN Enters the Black Hole, New Names for NT
,----[ Quote ]
| The lawsuit, filed last year by Mukilteo City Councilman Charles
| Pancerzewski, alleges that he was forced to resign as Microsoft's general
| auditor in January 1996 after working for the company's internal auditing
| department for more than four years. The suit claims that a "significantly
| younger man" with little auditing experience was picked to replace
| Pancerzewski, who was finally forced out because he discovered Microsoft
| might have been violating government regulations. Once Pancerzewski left the
| company he was replaced by the younger man, who his attorneys believe
| was "less prone to raise issues of possible legal improprieties which could
| threaten or embarrass Microsoft or its management.
`----
http://www.msboycott.com/news/98_06_22.shtml
SEC Investigating Microsoft Practices -- Earnings Manipulated, Former Employee
Contends
,----[ Quote]
| "The CFO to whom Charlie was reporting his concerns about illegality was the
| biggest advocate for the very illegality that was going on," Vial argued in
| court a year ago.
`----
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19990701&slug=2969514
Microfraud?
,----[ Quote ]
| THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically
| distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street
| expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports
| would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.
|
| More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft's chief of
| internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company's
| chief financial officer.
|
| Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the
| suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief
| operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward,
| Pancerzewski—who for nearly five years had received stellar performance
| evaluations—received his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually
| forced to resign.
|
| Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these
| allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers
| Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after
| telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax
| laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial
| motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied
| Microsoft's final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that
| Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly
| thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the
| agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case
| says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.
`----
http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement
,----[ Quote ]
| To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities
| and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a
| result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the
| issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08/14/microsoft-exec-dumped-stocks-prior-to-red-ring-addresment
Microsoft's Bach sold more stock before Xbox news
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. executive Robbie Bach sold $3 million more in company stock
| during the period leading up to an announcement about a costly flaw in its
| Xbox video game console than previously reported, according to a filing
| Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsofts-bach-sold-additional-stock/story.aspx?guid=%7BBECA3A50-EF33-4161-A111-A43BDC8B0462%7D&siteid=yhoof
Insider Trading Hasn't Affect Microsoft Stock - Yet
,----[ Quote ]
| MarketWatch.com reports that Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's
| Entertainment and Devices division, sold $6.2 million of Microsoft
| stock just prior to announcing that Microsoft was going to have to
| extend XBox 360 warranties to three years because of extensive
| failures. The filings note that this was not part of any
| scheduled diversification or selling program; this was a
| conscious, unscheduled sale by the guy in charge of releasing
| news that could affect the value of Microsoft stock.
|
| [...]
|
| Insider trading is a very serious violation of the law; just
| ask Martha Stewart, who served five months in prison for
| avoiding losses of $43,000 through trades that just had suspicious
| timing (no insider trading was actually proven). This is $6.3
| million that went straight into Robbie Bach's pocket.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070713/40947_id.html?.v=1
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Black holes are where God is divided by zero"
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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