No subject
Wed Mar 2 11:56:33 PST 2005
sales
as revenue. The =93major media company,=94 by the way, appears to =
have
been America Online, which is already under SEC investigation for =
erroneously
inflating advertisement revenue.
<p>The SEC also has a complaint against Homestore, which charges the =
former
executives with a second bogus deal, this one worth $9.6 million. The =
SEC
complaint also requires John Giesecke, Homestore's former chief =
operating
officer and former chief financial officer Joseph Shew to pay =
shareholders
$4.4 million for their illegal stock sales.
<br>
<p><b><i>10. Xerox could face criminal charges</i></b>
<p>Earlier this year, Xerox was slapped with a record $10 million fine
from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for accounting =
violations.
Last week, <b>Xerox confirmed that the US attorney's office in =
Bridgeport,
Connecticut was investigating its accounting practices as well.</b>
<p>The SEC complaint accused senior Xerox management of increasing the
company=92s pre-tax profits by $1.5 billion from 1997 to 2000 through =
fraudulent
accounting.
<br>
<p><b><i>11. Enron=92s Fastow may be indicted this week</i></b>
<p><b>Andrew Fastow, Enron=92s former CFO, is expected to be charged =
criminally
this week with multiple counts of fraud.</b> Fastow is seen as the =
architect
of the secretive off-the-books partnerships that Enron used to fudge its
books. Fastow himself made $30 million from the partnerhips.
<p><b>Investigators are also finding that Enron=92s use of complicated =
off-the-books
partnerships may have begun in the early 1990s, a few years before they
were thought to have originated.</b>
<br>
<p><font size=3D+3>NEWS AND VIEWS</font><font size=3D+2></font>
<p><font size=3D+2>Captive politicians avoid confronting capitalist =
excess</font>
<br><i>By Molly Ivins, for the St. Louis Post Dispatch</i>
<p>Poverty is up, unemployment is up, 40 million Americans don't have =
health
insurance, we have allowed unrestrained greed to ruin the economy and =
the
president wants to know, "What, apart from government, can we do?"
<p>This is not the result of an economic failure in this country -- it
is the result of political failure. We have institutionalized =
"infectious
greed" with this right-wing free-market claptrap and the accompanying =
corruption
of our political system through the system of legalized bribery called
campaign financing. I have yet to see serious reform proposals emerge =
from
Congress (honorable mention to Sen. Paul Sarbanes).
<p>We need an entire package of reform bills on corporate governance =
alone,
and we need to regulate derivatives and crack down on offshore money. =
The
most commonly asked political question in America today is, "Where the
hell are the Democrats?" The answer is they're also corrupted by =
campaign
financing, but since they are the only ones likely to do anything about
this mess, I suggest the gutless wonders that pass for an opposition =
party
in Washington get up off their fat duffs and get to work.
<p><a =
href=3D"http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel%5Cpdweb.nsf/TodayFriday/862=
56A0E0068FE5086256C410035AEAF?OpenDocument&PubWrapper=3DEditorial">http:/=
/home.post-dispatch.com/channel%5Cpdweb.nsf/TodayFriday/86256A0E0068FE508=
6256C410035AEAF?OpenDocument&PubWrapper=3DEditorial</a>
<p><font size=3D+2>Tax-Haven Firms Lobbying Against Curbs</font>
<br><i>By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post</i><i></i>
<p>When Congress began moving this summer against U.S. companies that =
avoided
taxes by being headquartered in offshore havens, Bermuda-based Accenture
Ltd. took a decidedly American line of defense.
<p>It hired lobbyists, lots of lobbyists: Bush family confidant Charlie
Black, former House Appropriations Committee chairman Robert L. =
Livingston
(R-La.), former senator Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and Reagan White =
House
chief of staff Kenneth Duberstein.
<p>Accenture is not alone. Tax haven-based companies may be persona non
grata to many on Capitol Hill, but they have become a godsend to K =
Street.
And the high-priced lobbyists prowling the halls of Congress on the =
companies'
behalf may be succeeding in delaying or watering down what once looked
like an unstoppable tide of legislation designed to force the companies
back into the U.S. corporate tax fold.
<p><a =
href=3D"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57407-2002Sep23.ht=
ml">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57407-2002Sep23.html</=
a>
<br>
<p><font size=3D+2>Business Reform Hopes Dim</font>
<br><b><i>Congress: The focus on a possible war with Iraq may imperil =
measures
to bolster workers' pensions and to seek new rules dealing with =
corporate
corruption.</i></b>
<br><i>By RICHARD SIMON, Los Angeles Times</i>
<p>The brewing face-off with Iraq may have claimed its first casualty:
more corporate reform legislation.
<p>Prospects for a bevy of measures designed to strengthen protections
for workers' pensions and impose new rules of corporate behavior appear
to be dimming, in part because of Washington's preoccupation with =
President
Bush's aggressive new stance toward Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
<p>The measures have been stalled by shifting legislative priorities, =
such
as the possibility of war, by aggressive lobbying by business to head =
off
more regulation and by heightened election-year tensions.
<p><a =
href=3D"http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-reform27sep2=
7.story">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-reform27sep=
27.story</a><b><font size=3D+2></font></b>
<p><b><font size=3D+2>COMPANIES & FINANCE THE AMERICAS: =
Whistleblowers
start to call the tune</font></b>
<br><i>By Joshua Chaffin, london Financial Times</i>
<p>Mr Chacon is not the only laid-off Wall Street employee to turn =
against
his former firm. He serves as a warning to Wall Street that some of =
their
most dangerous enemies may be the tens of thousands of employees they =
have
dismissed amid the extended slump in the securities industry.
<p>"We have stockbrokers at prominent brokerage houses who have been =
calling
us non-stop," says Michael Bachner, a New York securities lawyer. =
"They're
concerned that wrongs have been committed."
<p>Although the banks question their motive and the veracity of their =
claims,
disgruntled ex-employees are receiving considerable attention from =
regulators
investigating Wall Street firms and securities lawyers suing them.
<p><a =
href=3D"http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=3D020924000433&query=3D=
Whistleblowers+start+to+call+the+tune&vsc_appId=3DtotalSearch&state=3DFor=
m">http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=3D020924000433&query=3D=
Whistleblowers+start+to+call+the+tune&vsc_appId=3DtotalSearch&sta=
te=3DForm</a>
<p><b><font size=3D+2>The Best & Worst Boards</font></b>
<br><b><font size=3D+2>How the corporate scandals are sparking a =
revolution
in governance</font></b>
<br><i>By Louis Lavelle, Business Week</i>
<p>The yearlong study provided a richly detailed view of governance in
the post-Enron age, revealing a broken system undergoing radical =
repairs.
"Enron is bringing about the most sweeping structural changes in =
governance
that have ever occurred," says Donald P. Jacobs, former dean of =
Northwestern
University's Kellogg School of Business and a governance watcher. "We =
thought
there had been an enormous increase in the quality of boards, but Enron
has shaken the hell out of that confidence."
<p>That wake-up call has spurred companies to make radical improvements.
Problems that were simply ignored a couple of years ago are now the =
subject
of heated boardroom debate. Boards are being forced to grapple with =
tough
questions: How much is enough when it comes to paying the chief =
executive?
What's the best way to account for option grants? What kinds of ties =
should
be banned between directors and the companies they oversee? How many =
boards
can directors serve on without being stretched too thin? How should the
audit committee be staffed and run? And how much additional consulting,
if any, is acceptable for the outside accounting firm? The recent =
scandals
have made it all too clear that the decisions boards make on these =
issues
can have profound consequences for their companies.
<p><A =
HREF=3D"http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_40/b3802001.htm">=
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_40/b3802001.htm</A>
<p>-------------
<p><b><font size=3D+3>FROM THE POLLS=85</font></b>
<p>According to a Jericho communications poll of 264 CEOS,<b> 36 percent
said their companies are more conscious of corporate social =
responsibility
in the wake of 9/11. But just 12 percent said they're actually =
allocating
more money for it.</b>
<br>
<br>
<p>---------------------------
<p><b><font size=3D+3>THIS WEEK=92S ACTION ITEM:</font></b>
<p>This Wednesday, the Senate Treasury and General Government =
Subcommittee
will be holding hearings to =93examine the appropriateness of U.S. =
companies
moving their headquarters to offshore tax havens.=94
<p>Citizen Works founder Ralph Nader will be among those testifying that
U.S. companies moving their headquarters to offshore tax havens is =
inappropriate
and that legislators should take action.
<p><b>You should also tell your senators this week that you believe it
is inappropriate for U.S. corporations to reincorporate offshore. Tell
them that the government should crack down on these tax cheaters and not
award them any government contracts.</b>
<p>US Capitol Switchboard - (202) 224-3121
<br> To contact your senators - <a =
href=3D"http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm">http://www.senate.gov=
/contacting/index.cfm</a>
<p>For more background on corporate tax escapees, visit <a =
href=3D"http://www.citizenworks.org/enron/corp_tax_dodgers.php">http://ww=
w.citizenworks.org/enron/corp_tax_dodgers.php</a>
<br>
<p><b><font size=3D+2>UPCOMING EVENTS</font></b>
<p><b><i>1. Wall Street rally scheduled for Friday, October 4</i></b>
<p>To unify the plights of workers, shareholders, and pensioners, Ralph
Nader is headlining a major rally on Wall Street on Friday, October 4.
<br>The event will take place at 12 noon on the steps of Federal Hall,
facing the New York Stock Exchange on the corner of Wall St. and Broad
St. Nader will join singer/songwriter Patti Smith, author and professor
Francis Fox Piven, and cartoonist Tom Tomorrow along with other national
performers and speakers in calling for a crackdown on corporate crime
<br>The Wall Street rally will launch a series of events nationwide to
channel the people=92s sense of anger at the recent corporate scandals =
into
a focused and disciplined movement to break the grip of over-reaching =
corporate
power and highlight honest business practices.
<br>To find out more or to volunteer for the event, visit <A =
HREF=3D"http://www.democracyrising.org">http://www.democracyrising.org</A=
>
or call 212-349-6460.
<br>
<p>2. T<b>he Stop ExxonMobil Campaign is calling for a National Day of
Action for October 19</b>. Coordinated by the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance,
the Day of Action is an unprecedented effort between environmental, =
human
rights, and pro-democracy groups to address ExxonMobil's unchecked =
corporate
abuses.
<p>Check out www.stopexxonmobil.org to locate an Exxon or Mobil gas =
station
near you, and to find out how to get involved in the broader campaign.
<p>---------------------
<p><b><font size=3D+3>MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD</font></b>
<br> White House Comment Line - (202) 456-1111
<br> White House Fax Line - (202) 456-2461
<br> President George W. Bush's e-mail - president at whitehouse.gov
<br> Vice President Dick Cheney's e-mail - =
vice-president at whitehouse.gov
<br> White House Address - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC
20500
<br> US Capitol Switchboard - (202) 224-3121
<br> To contact your senators - <A =
HREF=3D"http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm">http://www.senate.gov=
/contacting/index.cfm</A>
<br> To contact your representative - <A =
HREF=3D"http://www.house.gov/writerep">http://www.house.gov/writerep</A>
<br>
<br>
<p>For more information about Citizen Works, please visit <A =
HREF=3D"http://www.citizenworks.org">http://www.citizenworks.org</A>.
<p>For any questions regarding this list, please email =
ldrutman at citizenworks.org.
<p>To unsubscribe from this list, please send an email to =
corporatereform-unsubscribe at mlm.citizenworks.org.
<br>
<p>News summaries based on original reports in other publications are =
prepared
by Citizen Works staff and are not created, sponsored, approved or
endorsed by the publications to which the original reports are =
attributed.
<br>
<br>
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