The Case of Bernard Madoff Case 5 Problem Statement: Fraud Summary : This case closely encompasses how Bernie Madoff was accused of creating a scheme that destroyed $65 billion in investments. He single handedly deceived thousands of people including auditors, accountants, and regulators. His scheme deceived so many intelligent people and regulators considered him legitimate. His family, auditors and employees have been under investigation to find out who helped and benefited from Madoff's scheme. Madoff claimed he was the only one at fault however his right hand man explained that numerous businesses new about his scheme and still accepted it and openly violated the law.
JDR- Business Technique. Much as one might like to see John D. Rockefeller as the arch capitalist crushing competitors as he gained monopolistic power, it's not so (at least according to the biography I read). He did indeed control much of the oil in the United States but he was fair in the prices he offered competitors he wanted to buy out and he was modest in his personal expenses and generous in his charitable contributions all his life. How he gain control He was able to price his product so low that competitors couldn't compete. They would then go out of business and/or sell to JDR.
The accounting practices created a scandal in which the companies were able to hide information from investors. This allowed the stock prices to remain high even when the company was struggling. When the companies collapsed, investors became worried about the overall securities markets. The Sarbanes-Oxley act is a response to the corruption with the attempt to improve business accounting regulations. The act is considered the most extensive increase in regulations since the Security and Exchange Act of 1934.
The company took risky dealings but continued to make billions of dollars every year. The most disturbing part is that the CEO had openly admitted his suspicions of the AIG Financial Products unit. Right before the company collapsed, AIG had accessed over $60 billion in probable subprime mortgage losses. In 2008, AIG’s problems caught up with them. The bailout was a kind of derivative call credit default swaps which are financial products that transfer the risk of the bonds between the parties.
Greenmailing is the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm to threaten a takeover and thereby forcing the target firm to buy those shares back at a premium in order to suspend the takeover. We can suppose that Pickens attempted to greenmail Koito as it is mentioned in the case “The high price Mr. Pickens allegedly paid for his stock […] added to the suspicion that he intended to greenmail Koito”. Moreover, Pickens was known as “an aggressive, tenacious, and generally hostile bidder for corporations”. Pickens was the largest shareholder of Koito. According to the US corporate governance custom and convention, Mr. Pickens was entitled to representation on the board.
The case of Enron is said to be a “smoke and mirrors” act dictated by top executives presenting the positive financial wealth of the company. Shareholders, lower executives, employees, and most American’s were not aware of the grieve financial trouble the company was enduring. Company Culture Enron’s motto was “respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence” and along with that its Vision was “Treat other as we would like to be treated ourselves…” Both the motto and vision were inconsistent with the actual company procedures. Enron had a much different approach to the company culture and reward system they actually used. Competition was the main concept; which led to numerous financial mistakes in future years.
The big financial-center banks that erivatives may have won a Nobel, but are they really a sell derivatives, moreover, may have an incentive to push a good idea? Companies have suffered huge losses trading product without clearly explaining the risks to a customer. in the type of derivative financial products whose invention was “You see a gap between the sophistication of Wall Street firms facilitated by the work of Fischer Black and the Nobelists. and the client firms,” notes Suresh M. Sundaresan of the Options and other derivatives—including futures, forwards Columbia University Graduate School of Business. “Because and swaps—are instruments for speculation as well as hedges bonuses on Wall Street are tied to transaction volume, this creagainst a drop in an asset’s value.
ACRC: CORPRORATE GOVERNANCE FAILURE AT SATYAM 1. What are the reasons for the inadequate corporate governance at Satyam? The fall of Satyam can be attributed to many causes as mentioned below: * Raju had been manipulating Satyam’s financial books for a period of seven years and the major corporate governance issue was that the Board of Directors and the auditors were unable to catch hold of the issue for so long. * Raju and his family founded a group of companies called Maytas. It was owned by his sons and to ensure billion dollar targets for Maytas, Raju inflated cash and bank balances in Satyam’s financial records.
For example, greed causes businessmen to compete with other businessmen, thus, keeping prices reasonable and forces them to keep up with consumer demands. But then greed could cause businessmen to make not so smart decisions to make more money which may affect everyone in the economy negatively. But I still believe that greed is good for capitalism in the US. I
The firm’s senior managers had engaged in fraud for an extended period through a scheme in which partnerships owned by the managers could receive payment for goods and services never provided to Enron. Enron’s executive team was trying to create an enterprise, which would increase wealth among their shareholders. However, when it revealed that their stock prices were less desirable, certain aggressive accounting measures were required. Arthur Andersen, auditor and consultant to Enron, helped to make Enron’s shares look more favorable. Andersen knowingly certified false financial statements as accurate.