FINK-403 Case Studies in Finance The Rise and Fall of Michael Milken 4/9/2014 The Rise and Fall of Michael Milken Michael Milken is known for many things. He is known to many as the “junk-bond king”, the “leveraged-buyout king” an innovator who changed the face of financial securities, to others he is seen as a crook who allowed his greed to beat out his integrity in order to make himself and those around him wealthier. The truth, as in most cases, is more than likely to fall somewhere in the middle. Michael Milken’s story is one with many highs and very few lows, while those lows would be considered catastrophic for some, Michael Milken conducted himself with a grace that very few people possess. He weathered the storms he was confronted with throughout his life and continued to remain on top.
Soon each came to become a key management figure in the company. F. The Fraud * Pre-Recorded orders to boost revenues, failed to write off uncollectable receivables, increased inventory in-transit, ignoring discounts, failing to record expenses and liabilities. * By 1992, $130 million of bogus entries were recorded in the companies accounting records, which overstated profits by $80 million. * Accounting
Charles Ponzi, who cheated the gullible out of millions by 1920, invented what came to be known as a Ponzi scheme, a scam in which early investors are paid with money from new investors. “The most notorious "Ponzi Scheme" took place when he began to trade postal reply coupons in 1919. Plenty of Americans in other countries could include such a coupon in a letter, to be redeemed at the post office for enough money to send a reply. Ponzi used his Securities Exchange Company as a front to trade the coupons and make a 200-percent profit” (Charles Ponzi). Bernie Madoff’s name is recognized and vilified around the world.
His name is Bernard Madoff and he ran the world’s biggest ponzi scheme ever. According to Biography.com Bernard Madoff was born in the year 1938 in New York City. He was the son of Polish immigrants Ralph and Sylvia Madoff. He had a younger brother (Peter) and an older sister (Sondra). His father was a plumber and later became involved in finance in the 1950s.
One of the main reasons why the Republicans overshadowed the Democrats was due to the financial support of big businesses. A major political figure of the Republicans, Mark Hanna, raised $16 million from big business’ to fund McKinley’s presidential campaign in 1896. An example of him raising money was when he raised $250,000 from Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil. From having this major financial aid, the Republicans were able to outspend the Democrats by 10:1 in the run up to the 1896 Presidential election on key factors such as advertising. Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper publisher who built the nation’s largest newspaper chain.
Corruption in Wal-Mart: Bribery Scandals within the World’s Largest Foreign Subsidiary Omar Morales National University The retail industry is a very challenging and demanding industry, especially for a retail giant like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart currently operates in 27 countries with 10, 130 retail units and was named the world’s largest company by revenue on the Fortune 500 list for 2011 (Corporate & Financial Fact Sheet, 2012). Due to its large success, it has been able to position itself in a globalized market. This success, however, has come with plenty of notoriety and headline news. Recently, Wal-Mart has been under scrutiny for bribery scandals in its largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico.
Mr. Slatkin was actually in the process of liquidating a lot of his investments made in behalf by his investors. In reality, Mr. Slatkin solicited millions of dollars from investors a contradiction of a statementmade to the SEC. During this time period, many investors wanted returns of funds, but were met with lack of response from Mr. Slatkin. Some of the investors brought lawsuits to recover their investments and others threatened to file involuntary bankruptcy petitions against him, forcing him into bankruptcy. Mr. Slatkin stated to both the investors and SEC that there were ample funds to return all investors monies.
Madoff Case Bernie Madoff has become known to many people as the man that perpetrated by far the largest scam in the history. His reputation of a successful investor, financial genius, and a chairman of NASDAQ took a turn for the worst when his so called split strike conversion strategy turned out to be nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme affecting thousands of investors from around the globe. How we can understand a white collar crime, that represent a $65 billion on gains and almost $18 billion of looses to investors. Well, the case that I will present is the one that almost freak out Wall Street. The case of Bernard L. Madoff will remain etched in the memory of investors and traders for the unparalleled example of Ponzi scheme that it set and as the most financially devastating crime.
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 The nineteen twenties was a time in America’s history of an unreal amount of success. The stock market was going through the roof, stocks doubling in price, prosperity was everywhere, and America seemed to have the formula for exceptional success. As success stories continue to spread, people became hungry for more power. Blinded by greed and flashy items, professionals that worked for large firms used money to manipulate the market. In the film series, American Experience, PBS explains many of the events that occur before the Crash of 1929.
Both are generally nonviolent and aimed toward personal gain rather than harming another person. The second example from this website entails a company called Alta Gas ran by a man called Peter Bradley. The company claims it was making enormous growth and was highly profitable, however in fact this was an entirely different story. The SFO invested the company in late 2001 to find that the company had ‘made up’ dozens of fake customers to give the impression of a full order book. Bradley, who enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, along with several other directors persuaded 3 financial institutions to invest an accumalated total of £38.5 million to conceal the company’s actual loss.