Amid the recent wave of corporate scandals, more than a half-dozen executives have been charged with anything from improperly booking expenses to insider trading. Here is a gallery summing up who's been charged.
Scott Sullivan, WorldCom
WorldCom's longtime chief financial officer was until recently considered a financial guru on Wall Street. He was fired June 25 after the company discovered $3.8 billion in expenses that were improperly booked as capital expenditures. He turned himself in to authorities on Aug. 1 to face charges tied to the scandal, and is seen as the architect of the alleged fraud.
David Myers, WorldCom
The company's controller was fired June 25, and turned himself in to face federal charges on Aug. 1. While Mr. Sullivan, the CFO, has been called the architect of the alleged fraud, Mr. Myers allegedly knew about the questionable accounting treatments at WorldCom going back two years. He had an angry e-mail exchange with a London WorldCom executive who brought the accounting questions to the attention of Arthur Andersen, WorldCom's auditors, in 2000.
John J. Rigas, Adelphia
Adelphia's billionaire founder was born in 1924. In 1952, he and brother Gus bought their first cable system for $300 in Coudersport, Pa. They expanded, and incorporated as Adelphia in 1972. (He bought out Gus in 1982.) Mr. Rigas took on huge debt in the 1990s to buy a string of cable systems, including Century Communications for $5 billion. With his company in Chapter 11, Mr. Rigas now faces criminal and civil charges that his family looted the company for personal benefit. All three of his sons face civil charges, and two face criminal charges.
James R. Brown, Adelphia
James R. Brown was Adelphia's vice president of finance until May 2002, when he resigned from his post and the board along with the Rigas family members. He was arrested in July and charged with conspiracy for allegedly looting the company. He was also named in an SEC civil case.
Michael C. Mulcahey, Adelphia
Mr. Mulcahey was Adelphia's vice president and assistant treasurer. He was arrested in July for conspiring to loot the company. He was also named in the SEC's civil case. The SEC says Mr. Mulcahey assisted Rigas family members in excluding from financial statements over $2.3 billion in bank debt by shifting it to off-balance sheet affiliates.
Samuel Waksal, ImClone
The founder of biotech firm ImClone was arrested June 12 by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at his Manhattan loft. He was indicted by a federal grand jury Aug. 7 on charges of bank fraud, perjury, obstruction of justice and other counts. Federal prosecutors allege he tried to unload ImClone shares -- and tipped off family members -- ahead of news that federal regulators rejected the company's application to market a new experimental cancer drug.
mindfully.org note: These are but six of what is probably thousands of corporate criminals that should be behind bars, as well as made to provide restitution.... and made to work for the rest of their natural years in the communities the money was stolen from. Make no mistake about it, these hooligans stole this money through a long line of just-barely-legal money laundering scams beginning with loan sharks on poor neighborhoods. At one end of the money tree are the poor people paying large percentages of their income from menial labor. And at the other end are these characters who "don't ask for much, but will take more."
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