What do you make of a company that uses the slogan, "Our Business Is The American Dream" then consistently engages in behavior that leads to a $400 million fine?
Fannie Mae, the mortgage company, was fined yesterday because the company "doctored its earnings for six years so top executives could collect hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses." They were living their own version of the American dream, one that flies in the face of honesty, decency and integrity. Shame on them.
And there’s no question they knew what they were doing. For example, "Of $90 million [former chairman Franklin] Raines received from the company between 1998 and 2003, $52 million was tied to earnings targets that the company hit, at least in part, by ‘deliberately and intentionally’ manipulating its accounting, investigators concluded."
I hope two things. One, that the fines are punitive, much greater than what they stole. Two, that the individuals involved, the board and other executives who took the company down this shameful path, face criminal charges. Crime shouldn’t pay, over and over and over. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask – it’s the American dream.
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» Fannie Mae Accounting Practices Called Deliberate And Systematic Illusions from CoreCharacter
I mentioned that I hoped the individuals responsible for the deceptions at Fannie Mae would face criminal charges. It is, after all, an $11 billion accounting scandal. Maybe it will happen, according to the New York Times. "Paul R. Berger,... [Read More]
Tracked on: May 26, 2006 9:36 AM | Permalink to Trackback